Democratic Republic of the Congo Energy Situation

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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Capital:

Kinshasa

Region:

Sub-Saharan Africa

Coordinates:

2.8800° S, 23.6560° E

Total Area (km²): It includes a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.

2,344,860

Population: It is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin.

102,262,808 (2023)

Rural Population (% of total population): It refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.

53 (2023)

GDP (current US$): It is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources.

66,383,287,003 (2023)

GDP Per Capita (current US$): It is gross domestic product divided by midyear population

649.14 (2023)

Access to Electricity (% of population): It is the percentage of population with access to electricity.

21.50 (2022)

Energy Imports Net (% of energy use): It is estimated as energy use less production, both measured in oil equivalents. A negative value indicates that the country is a net exporter. Energy use refers to use of primary energy before transformation to other end-use fuels, which is equal to indigenous production plus imports and stock changes, minus exports and fuels supplied to ships and aircraft engaged in international transport.

1.96 (2014)

Fossil Fuel Energy Consumption (% of total): It comprises coal, oil, petroleum, and natural gas products.

5.36 (2014)

Source: World Bank

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Introduction

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is in the center of sub-Saharan Africa. DRC is bordering the Central African Republic to the north, the Republic of Congo to the north-west & South Sudan to the north-east. On the eastern borders lie Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi & Tanzania (with Lake Tanganyika separating the borders). The South Atlantic Ocean is to the west of the country, with Angola to the south-west & Zambia to both the south and the south-east.

DRC Map

Energy Situation

Overview of the Country's Energy Sources

The DRC's potential to generate energy is high, having a wide range of both renewable and non-renewable energy sources. The DRC's potential renewable sources are hydropower, biomass, solar, wind and geothermal, while the non-renewables would be oil, natural gas & uranium. Approximatrely 9% of the country's generated domestic power comes from hydropower, specially the two Inga dams (Inga I & Inga II).

DRC's Ingas

While the country has abundancy for hydro-based power generation, the country's production of different fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas is modest and very limited. The DRC's total hydropower capacity is about 100,000 MW, with the Inga damn solely counting for 40,000-45,000 MW.

Energy Access

A decade ago, during the year 2009, 89% of DRC's total population did not have access to electricity, leaving only 11% with access, while 94% of the population were completely dependent on biomass as the main cooking fuel. 

DRC's total energy access 1990-2017 (Tracking SDG7, 2019)

Though the access rates have gone up by the year 2017, as the population with access went up from 11% in 2009 to 19%, yet the access rates in the country still alarming, especially in the rural areas where about only 4% have access to electricity, and no proper efforts have been made or taken to increase the access rate or improve the situation.

DRC's urban energy access 1990-2017 (Tracking SDG7, 2018)

DRC's rural energy access 1990-2017 (Tracking SDG7, 2019)

Production

Hydropower comes as the number one and major energy supplier in the country, with biomass (wood & agricultural residues) and oil as the secondary ones. 99% of the DRC's produced electricity comes from hydropower, while both oil and gas account for the remaining 1%.

Table: DRC's Total Final Production of Different Energy Sources 2000-2018

Energy Source	Unit	2000	2005	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Carbon	Kt	106	132	0	0	0	0	0	0
Charcoal	Kt	283	615	3674	3803	3841	4074	4129	4185
Crude oil	Kt	1169	1269	1129	1061	1048	996	946	957
Natural gas	TJ	0	0	0	0	46	14	0	0

Installed Capacity

DRC's total primary energy supply of different sources 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

Consumption

DRC's total final energy consumption of different sources 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

77% of the country's total final energy consumption goes only for the residential sector, making it the major consuming sector. The industrial sector counts for 20.5% of the final total energy consumption, and 2.4% for agriculture, transport & public services all together.

Table: DRC's Final Energy Consumption of Different Sources 2000-2018

Energy Sources	Unit	2000	2005	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Oil	Kt	269	404	1096	1467	863	626	658	693
Electricity	GWh	4533	4883	7252	7899	7376	7001	7224	7457

 

Import and Export

DRC's net energy imports 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

Table: DRC's net imports of different energy sources 2000-2018

Energy Sources	Unit	2000	2005	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Oil products	Kt	344	563	1247	1697	985	743	795	850
Natural gas	TJ	0	0	0	80	46	38	38	38

Electricity

Table: DRC's Electricity General Indicators 2015-2016

Indicator	Production	Consumption	Exports	Imports	Generation
Capacity	9.046 billion kWh	7.43 billion kWh	422 million kWh	20 million kWh	2.587 million kW
World Ranking	106	106	70	113	105

DRC's total produced electricity comes mainly from two sources; hydropower, which counts for 98%, and fossil fuels with 2%.

Table: DRC's Total Produced Electricity from Different Energy Sources 2000-2018

Source	Unit	2000	2005	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
From Fossil Fuels	GWh	19	23	9	11	16	14	14	14
From Hydropower	GWh	6001	7396	8231	8820	8916	9099	9770	10516

Renewable Energy

General Indicators

Table: DRC's Total Renewable Capacity (MW) 2009-2018

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Capacity	2514	2514	2514	2514	2515	2516	2529	2551	2566	2750

As mentioned earlier, the country possesses a significant potential for renewable power generation, which is illustrated further as follows:

• Hydropower: For which the Congo River is the main source, with an average flow rate 42,000 m³/s.
• Biogas: Coming mainly from both plant and animal waste.
• Solar: The DRC has noticeably high solar radiation averaging 6 kWh/m²/day.
• Wind: There exist several potential hotspot for moderate wind power harnessing, where the wind speed averaging 6-6.6m/s.

  On the eastern parts of the DRC, there are many active volcanoes and geothermal sites, which significantly gives the country huge potential for this particular sort of energy.

• Geothermal: On the eastern parts of the DRC, there are many active volcanoes and geothermal sites, which significantly gives the country huge potential for this particular sort of energy.

DRC's renewable energy share of the country's total final consumption 1990-2015 (Tracking SDG7, 2019)

The previous figure shows the rate which represents the ratio of the renewable energy consumption of the country's total final consumption from the 1990s until 2015. As shown, during that period, the renewables consumption has never been less than 92%, which comes mainly from hydropower.

DRC's generated electricity from renewable sources 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

DRC's energy consumption of different renewable sources during 2015 (Tracking SDG7, 2019)

Hydropower

Though hydropower resources in the country are considered to be the highest in the African continent, counting up to 774 GWh of potential generating capacity, yet the current exploitation rate of these resources does not exceed 3% of that total potential.

Therefore, few projects have been initiated recently by the government, so that the hydropower generation can be improved, such as:

1. Supplying the country's remote and isolated regions, thus by implementing a decentralized micro hydropower station.
2. Rehabilitating and maintaining both the existent hydropower plants and transmission lines.

Table: DRC's Total Hydropower Capacity (MW) 2009-2018

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Capacity	2514	2514	2514	2514	2515	2515	2528	2548	2559	2740

DRC's electricity generation of hydropower 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

Table: DRC's Main Installed Hydropower Stations

Station Name	Year of Finalizing Construction	Total Installed Capacity (MW)	Current Available Power (MW)
Inga I	1972	351	175
Inga II	1982	1424	534
Zongo	1975	75	13
Mpozo	1938	2.2	0
Sanga	1949	11.5	0
Nseke	1957	248	186
Nzilo	1954	108	108
Koni	1950	42	0
Mwadingusha	1954	68	68
Kalubi	1954	10	3
Ruzizi	1972	29	29
Ruzizi II	1989	9	9
Tshopo	1974	18	6
Mobayi & Mbongo	1987	11	11
Kyimbi	1959	17	8
Lungudi	1949	1.56	0.78

Solar

With an average solar radiation of 6 kWh/m2/day, the DRC has great potential for implementing photovoltaics (PV) and solar heating systems through the entire country. Yet, that's not the case, as through the whole country there are only a total of 836 installed solar PV systems, accounting altogether for a total operating power of 83 kW.

Table: DRC's Total Solar Energy Capacity (MW) 2009-2018

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Capacity	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	5	7

Clean Cooking

More than 90% of the population rely on biomass (charcoal, firewood) for cooking. In Kinshasa and Kisangani alone 4.9 million m3 of firewood was traded whic exceeds the official volume of biomass traded by 12 times.  Cooking is mostly carried out by women in DRC, however, fuel and stove companies are often run by men. Read more

Fossil Fuels

Oil

There are proven oil reserves in the country's western coastal basin, in addition to other unexplored two basins. The DRC ranked as the 2nd largest country with oil reserves in Africa, following Angola, back in the year 2009, with about 180 million barrels worth of reserves. 

During 2017, the country's production of crude oil averaged 19160 bbl/day, and in 2015, its export average of the same product was about 20000 bbl/day.

Table: DRC's Different Final Consumption Rates of Oil Generally & in Different Sectors 2000-2018

Oil Consumption	Unit	2000	2005	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Final	kt	269	404	1096	1467	863	626	658	693
Industrial	kt	14	42	41	41	20	26	27	29
In transport	kt	250	351	1045	1423	841	599	630	663

DRC's total production of crude oil and oil products 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

DRC's final consumption of crude oil and oil products 1990-2016 (IEA, 2019)

Despite the significant production capacity of crude oil in the DRC, there exist no refineries in the countries. Therefore, the DRC exports all of its oil production capacity, and imports all the refined products such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, aviation gas, fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Key Problems of the Energy Sector

Even though the DRC possesses prosperous and varied resources for energy generation, the energy sector still falls far behind. This is due to the many problems, which the energy sector faces. In order to expand, improve and develop the country's energy sector, these challenges need to be mitigated and fixed. Some of these challenges are listed below:  

1. Uncertainty of the country's political situation.
2. Lack of investment interest.
3. Unreliability of current electricity grids.
4. Lack of proper management & governance of the energy sector.
5. Insufficiency of the current energy supply.
6. The very poor operating and maintenance conditions of the country's energy sector and power systems.
7. Lack of needed funds and both financial and technical skills.
8. Lack of needed proper policies for the implementation of more renewable energy projects.
9. Lack of technological advancements.
10. Instability of the economic situation in the country.
11. The low level of both proper awareness and needed educational background.
12. Absence of a regulatory agency
    
13. Absence of a Rural Electrification Agency
    
14. High taxes, VAT, and import duties 
    

Further Information

• USAID Power Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo Factsheet