Africa Energy: Angola buys electricity from the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Angolan city of Cabinda and the surrounding area will receive electricity from the Inga hydroelectric plant near the city of Matadi in the Democratic Republic of Congo under a bilateral energy cooperation agreement that came out of last February’s meeting in Kinshasa, Angolan news agency Angop reported.

The agreement was signed by the Ministers of Energy and Water Resources of DR Congo, Igete Ifoto and of the Angolan Minister for Energy and Waters, João Baptista Borges, who on Monday met with the governor of Cabinda, Eugénio Laborinho, to prepare the reception of his Congolese counterpart.

Since 2006, the governments of Angola and DR Congo have been holding meetings to resolve the energy situation in the Angolan province of Cabinda, with the construction of an energy transmission line from the Inga hydroelectric dam.

The construction of the Inga transmission line, passing through the port town of Muanda, has an estimated cost of US$20 million.

The Inga hydroelectric facility currently has two plants with a production capacity of 1,800 megawatts each. Inga I started operating in 1972 and Inga II in 1982.

The province of Cabinda currently has three dual system turbines (gas and diesel), which provide 95 megawatts of electric power to the entire region, which is not enough for local demand.

Cabinda is a coastal province of Angola that is separated from the rest of the country by a strip of land belonging to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which borders it to the South and East, and to the north, the border is with the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). (macauhub)