DRC plans to build world's largest hydro dam as Ukraine war shifts global energy demands | DW News 

That nun is amazing, went off to get an electrical engineering degree so she could come back and build an electrical power supply for her village

Congo has absolutly mind boggoling Hydro power potential, but the energy should be used in Africa to allow it to develop without carbon emmisions, these load centers are closer and will require less transmission lines to reach. If fully tapped the Congo would generate nearly half the power output of the continent. The big oportunity for exports will be Nigeria which can fill the oil and gas demands of Europe most efficiently due to proximity. I'm highly skeptical of hydrogen exports, their are no ships that can carry it, no terminals to recive it and only a tiny set of potential customers, basically Petro-chemical refineries, and hydrogen derived from hydro-power would be undercut by hydrogen derived from natural gass. Any plan to use hydrogen for industrial purposes is best done with the production and consumption at the same location so you don't need to store or transport it.

Distribution is just as expensive as generation, people seem to gloss over this fact. If they don't squander the revenues, it would certainly benefit the country in the long run.

if the inga dams were running to capacity, there is more enough electricity capacity to power all of africa, the problem is the corruption in DRC

Very insightful... Hydrogen production for Europe without generating power locally for industries, commercial centres and large residential areas will be unethical and criminal.

The problem with a new dam, it will take a very expensive infrastructure to deliver a spark the further away the more expensive delivery and maintenance will be. It's not about green energy it's about selling power, it's about jobs and all about money over a long period. The solution is smaller, localized solar sites, cheaper, reliable and much less maintenance.

And by powering the country they mean only to power Kinshasa and other areas around it; the interior of the country isn’t under the control of the central government in Kinshasa, or if it is it’s at unstable odds with its partners…

Hydrogen as a power source is hugely inefficient. And then to think you are going to ship it to Europe is totally nuts

No, if projects in DRC do not profit the population, then foreign projects shouldn't happen. Africa is not for sale. We're sick of bad planning and pillaging.

The greed of western companies just amazes me

DRC has amazing solar potential. 1kWp = 3.8kWh per day, on average, all year round. Getting villages electrified with solar and battery storage, is probably the smartest way forwards. There is no need to create a full country grid with solar this plentiful. But it will take several years still until used old panels and old batteries are so pervasive that they "naturally" end in africa (like so much of european almost waste does -- cfr milkpowder and chicken legs), and for the first time since forever, european waste could finally help build up the local economy in central african instead of destroy them.

Any where hydro can be utilized it should be top priority as long as construction is top notch. Only down side is any archeology sites will be permanently unavailable to research.

Awesome Nun. Now she needs to train young people to maintain the power station.

I can understand the historically-referenced hesitations people have about building power mainly for export, but the alternative is asking a government who does not have the money to fund large power projects to do just that, without foreign assistance. However DRC stands to gain handily from exports of power and/or hydrogen, enabling the government to solve the power crisis itself through its own coffers resulting from the increased capital raised by these sales, provided it isn't squandered.

Congo should do what go for her citizens and environment. Don’t be fooled by some investors and investments. Cobalt war is a great example.

Heard this story since 1960. Too much corruption and inefficiency to allow this to work.

Go Africa! Such huge potential for renewable energy and bootstrapping it's economies. Big challenge though, from an investment and political stability point of view.

Please strongly consider hydro water tower power generators. The fact is dams displace much land use and this affects all things living. You can use pressure to force the water up a tower where it will fall and turn a turbine of appropriate size. The best part is all the moving parts can be self contained so little to no risk of injury by anyone or anything. Also these could be place anywhere so long as you have a water source to feed it. This means you do not need to displace anyone or anything living. The best part IMHO is that everyone needs water to live anyways, so you can tackle two problems simultaneously and efficiently at that. The towers can be scaled up as demand grows as well. I would imagine they could be camouflaged to blend in with the natural landscape as well.

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How DRC will afford a dam? They’re a poor country. But the positive thing is that they have a lot of resources like Colton.

The same country whose cobalt mines are currently being exploited by the Chinese - great change in direction by the Congolese! More independence from superpowers! Those cobalt mines belong to them as well - I wonder if they will ever reclaim them like the Arabs reclaimed their oil fields from colonizers.

I think the DRC government should get the best deal it can in terms of revenue from the new project and then use the money to build out micro grids throughout the country using solar and storage. It makes no sense for the country to cut in corridors for power generation if there is no development to pay the bills later.

It take a lot of money, expertise, and discipline to build and manage a giant dam like this.

Why are they not constantly putting in more solar and wind as a priority? Seems to me that the Democratic Republic of Congo have an enormous abundance of both; a boundless potential which allows for local electric generation everywhere in the country where people are. Is there a focus on extracting minerals from the DRC for foreign sales over uplifting all of the people of the country? That is not a good thing if so.

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Rural electrical distribution has always been subsidized even in Developed countries, theirs is nothing special about DRC in this regard. I think though that people ovestate the problem of getting power to remote villages, that's a transmission problem. Once you have a substation stepping down power from a main line a village is sufficiently compact to be very easily be wired up. Supplying any populatin center over a few thousand people is quite doable even over long distances. It's the romote farm houses miles away from anyone else which are the real problem where your looking at miles of line per house connected. Given the costs of thouse most inefficient lines an offgrid solution may actually be preferable and given DRC resources this would mean solar as wind is practically non-existent over the Congo basin due to the equitorial doldrums and topography.

i feel like DRC is like a god sent key toward clean energy, the gigantic dam, cobalt for battery.

I'd be interested to see the wildlife impact review. The DRC is incredibly biodiverse. I'm sure it would help the people. But it ought to at least be weighed against the wildlife. If it is then determined to be a net benefit, then go forward. But if some highly valued, exotic creatures would become endangered, it might be better to find a different energy source.

The DRC could be the wealthiest country in Africa IF they had a decent government with less corruption, unfortunately this is not going to happen this decade.

a lot of smaller dams restores the water table. way cheaper to build too.

That community hydro dam is awesome, good for her and her people.

Step 1: Refurbished and Improve capacity of Inga 1 and 2 Step 2: Interconnection between various hydro power plants in DR Congo Step 3: Construction of Katende Dam 1 integrating flow battery storage of 200 MW to support the interconnected grid stability Step 4: Deploy Inverter-based power resource in the Congolese power systems Step 5: Build the great Inga so that at least 60% of the electricity produced can be exported These steps can help the country meet its local power demand while exporting surplus power It is necessary for the country to diversify its income sources in order to prevent any adverse surprises in the future due to the depletion of mines (cobalt, copper, gold, etc.).

I hope they build thier dams as soon as possible.

that's one awesome nun!

Congo and all Africa countries needs to invest in solar power for Africa, solar power is the way forward to Africa and will makes us very rich people and countries rich and developed

Hydrogen is a difficult and costly means of energy storage and transport and the Congo is too far from any major demand to justify transmission lines. Massive hydro power stations are only justified if there is a local demand like an aluminium smelter.

when war in ukraine stop.. life will come back to normal..

3:40 It will benefit the DRC the instant their government develops the infrastructure to transmit the electricity. It's reasonable they get their fair shake from their local resource. But in the current moment they have essentially nothing from that resource. Why be so cynical towards people that are looking to develop it?

Green energy is the best, thank you ,from belgium

The Congo River is 17 kms wide at some points ,that river is massive and hugely untapped

Dear Deutche Welle, Might you have an economic advisor? If you did, she'd explain to your listeners that the energy Australia plans to sell to Europe can be viewed as an export (like oil or gold), that will generate much needed foreign exchange. She would also explain that the current excess capacity existing at the Inga Dams is a representation of a massive inefficiency that should be exploited to meet household energy needs of the Congolese, long before the debate on whether Congo should control exports even makes sense. This video was full of people discussing a non-issue; full of heart and no head; As if DW was more concerned about appearances rather than what would actually help the Congolese. Dear DW, You can discuss Africa in a serious way. You just have to trust that the principles in Africa have the framework within which to understand what you are saying. Even if you insist on using Africans to discuss Africa, it's implausible you couldn't find Africans capable of discussing an economic issue from an economic perspective. Instead, as you often do, the issue was discussed as a purely anthropological one. The presenter didn't even know what questions to ask. But that's excusable if you could find an undergraduate economics major to explain why trade is good; especially when the current situation is so wasteful.

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up to 7 dams can be constructed and that's more energy than the whole of Africa can use

Yes.

Small hydro is awesome, kudos to nun engineers!!!

Not a bad plan really but would be hard to get off the ground and run properly with the current DRC government…

Tanzania is largely hydro-power powered, I have been told. This is not mentioned here.

Thank God it’s not a Chinese proposal

Inga can even produce a lot more in a mix, to not exploit but the low waters. Electrolyses of congolese minerals makes more sense... Local consumption can often by other means, lack of information...? For instance, as diesel : palmoil convenes , it is the only oil of vegetal origin that can serve a motor without braking it.... doesn't need diesterisation. It can also help for electricity....when a local situation needing it, is out of reach or to difficult to reach ( question of price and maintenance of equipments).

Interesting on how people do not know Congo. Please visit Congo. Inga dams are expensive and can built for industries only for ROI. Congo has a lot of lakes and small rivers where hydro dams can be built for households as well as solar panels

Governments are responsible for the well-being of their citizens first and foremost. The 90+ million people in the DRC need their government to do what’s best for them; who else can they depend on to do so. In the 21st century, electricity is a basic right not a luxury. Due to the fact that Africa lags so far behind in this area, it should be a major focus for African leaders to do what is necessary to catch up. For more than a century the DRC has been raped and pillaged by greedy colonizing foreign forces and their own corrupt leaders who continue to collude with them. We keep hearing how strapped the DRC is for cash, while foreign multinational corporations and a small group of local elites drain the country of its wealth. This needs to stop! Now that the DRC is part of the EAC, it needs to be laser-focused on eliminating corruption. Mining contracts and big infrastructure deals with multinational corporations must be negotiated to benefit the DRC also. The appropriate tax systems must be instituted to collect revenue for the State; and DRC citizens must mobilize to hold their leaders accountable. The future installations of the Inga Dam must provide electricity for all DRC citizens, while exports to Europe and other places are considered. For the citizens of the DRC, this needs to be non-negotiable!

Nun and electrical engineer! Amazing

The nun is the hero.

Amazing fully support this.

The biggest mistake President Etienne Tshisekedi made is to borrow part of the loan from the World Bank to fund the construction of Inga dam Hydro-electric power station because of tough conditionalities and strings attached. He should have taken the example of the great Rennaisance Hydro-electric power station financed much by public fund. Actually the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not even need to borrow money from the World Bank and Western governments because it has valuable minerals, agricultural potentials that can generate sufficient state revenue to fund the vital infrastructure development projects , education, healthcare and research, and ensure food security.

Green Hydrogen? Green Hydro and Hydrogen are not necessarily the same. You could use the electricity from the Hydro Electric turbines to produce Hydrogen and ship that hydrogen as a fuel to be burned somewhere but 99% sure that will not be happening. The dam stores water on one side, flows water into turbines that spin an electric generator producing electricity. Hydro isn’t Hydrogen Power.

how do they fund this hydro dam?

You didn't mention South Africa using Congolese electricity while people in the country can't benefit of their rightful resources.

0:45 Ah, glory pantsu! A man of culture I see... XD

Right on looks good on em. You'll be giving a lot of people well deserved jobs. Congrats.

And to think Egypt wanted to prevent the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam smh

The problem with Africa is that the dam will be built and no one will see the money and power cuts will continue

The economic 'logic' of Inga III is up-side down. Forget hydrogen. It's too costly to ship. Instead: reduce alumina to aluminum, mass produce ammonia and ammonium nitrate, run chlor-alkali plants -- direct reduction of iron ore to sponge. "Simandou, a 110-kilometer range of hills deep in the hinterland of Guinea in Western Africa, boasts the world's largest untapped iron ore reserves." These are all economically rational projects that would, obviously, massively stimulate local employment. (Daughter industries) If extra power is available, sell it as electricity to neighboring nations. All of the industries detailed above ^^^ are power pigs that would otherwise consume traditional fuels when produced elsewhere. The plants, themselves, could easily be erected near the coast and along the river. Iceland built an alumina reduction plant and its associated hydro-power dam. It's a money spinner -- all the way around. "Karahnjukavirkjun is a Hydropower plant in Eastern Iceland, designed to 4600 GWh annually to serve Alcoa's aluminium smelter east of Reydarfjordur..."

DRC should focus on supplying power to Africa

They should that already!

I would love for an independent company to track all of the Russian oil tankers that are turning off their trackers just to see how many are actually going to the EU if you don't know what I'm talkin about look it up ever since the war started Russian tankers have left Port without a destination and turn their trackers off

Africa's population is growing exponentially, for sure theu will need energy in one form or another. But as with anything, it will end in corruption, conflict, abandon and dismay...

You don't need to ruin huge swathes of land by building a massive hydro electric plant. If the pharmacy has his own solar power source, problem solved.

Large dams are not climate neutral. Too many of them can ruin irrigation--just look at China. There is subtle long-term impact which quickly adds up if the water flow is limited over a wide area, causing bodies of water to dry or stagnate.

@5:45 is Kamanzi at his farm??

The DRC could also use hydrogen fuel cells to power its electric needs. There are already units developed to power industrial cites, hospitals and more to allow them a steady source of reliable power. Sales of hydrogen could also bring a big return to the DRC economy.

they are doing it weong they should use solar to pump water back up and use the dams as a battery too

Hydrogen produced from hydro electricity isn't climate neutral as he says at 0:23. That 'huge concrete wall' he describes at 3:02 requires cement and steel production which create 16% of emissions between the two of them. And other parts of the dam will require a large amount of earth moving. Like most environmental activists, he is either ignorant or a liar.

in america some native americans are just now here in 2022 getting electric in their homes and good drinking water

Development and powersupply need to go primarily to development in DRC, the overflow can be sold to the South into South Africa and then look for industrial development and production of Hydrogen in DRC and sold abroad.... Africa needs to start looking after its own development and uplifting of the people in DRC via mining development etc. Inga 1 and Inga 2 need to be optimised and operated to their full extent. Africa has Sun and wind for further Green energy development also to advantage of all the people in Africa. Africa has enough skilled engineers and industrialists to do the development internally to the benefit of the people of Africa. NO NEED to involve the Chinese, they just stole from Africa and leave a trial of Environmental damage behind. The story of the initiative by the Nun is a prime example of working to the advantage of all the communities...

Give people power. If the don't put the money in it go off

Better give it to Chinese to build your dam.

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Only through disasters humans would progress.

In all developing Nations the population growth outstrips energy production

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Make the dam already.

With DRC's internal forever political uncertainty, we will be still talking of this project come 2100!

Who can financil the project?

They present this like there is some contest between power supplied to the local grid, and power exported. The Hydrogen price would have to be exponentially greater than it is today to justify export. It's just obvious that they would be selling almost all of that energy to local grid that possesses that demand. If there was something to be concerned about it's that in a place like the DRC, one might need to be very careful to avoid slave labor. Other than that this really is a storm in a teacup.

Great idea...get on with it ASAP.. Its highly likely that no one will use hydrogen in the EU...so don't worry about it, just imagine the boost if the area of the economy got "free" electricity the DRC would see within 10 years a serious differences to the remotest areas.

How green can a dam be if it destroys the environment down river?

I thought that this was already done with the IMF-money sent for this MEGA-project. Was that another dam?

99% of Africans are always discussing what needs to be done, only 1% try implementing what needs to be done today... that's the reason we as a continent is lagging behind.

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Me right at 4:20: bro has the thiccest secretary I've seen in ages, BRB moving to the DRC god Damn!

Bet it will be big

Short sided leaders in DRC. The locals should always come 1st for a wealthy nation.

Is electricity accessible throughout all of Russia? It's a thought that occurred when I watched this video.

Just doesn't feel right right when the local need to energy but it will be sold to Europeans. I understand the need of foregin investment and thus the control power is in others hand.Nonetheless, this just doesnt feel right.

Green hydrogen? What is he talking about? Hydro dams are for generating electricity but they also hinder the normal functioning of rivers and threaten biodiversity.

Yes, I think with the Congo's war issues still, nuclear is a bad anyway...but any renewable sources to get all the global reliance of fossil fuels down

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The DRC should allow foreign investors to build Grand Inga and use the power generated, all on their own cost and profit. In return DRC would receive a small share of the power for free. Even 10% would be 3-4GW of free power. After some decades - sufficient for the investors to write off the investment and make some profit - the power station will become the property of the DRC. The investors could sell the power to neighbouring countries or use the energy for aluminum smelters, production of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer and other very energy intense products that are needed in large quantities and easy to transport and export. All this industry would be built close to the power station, creating jobs and tax revenues in the region. Everybody would win: - Investors make profit. - DRC receives electric power, tax revenues and finally the largest power station in the world for free. - The people in the region benefit from employment opportunities and economic growth. - Global green energy transition is boosted, protecting the climate.

Hmm am Ghanaian but this country is in my mind because the natural resources is too much Oh let protect it and make Africa great Let forget corruption Awoo Africa let protect our land from the white