Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is commonly regarded as the most resource rich country in the world. Its landmass of 2,345,000 square kilometers (second largest in Africa) and population of 113 million only scratch the surface of the vastness of its resources. Beneath the ground, the country is estimated to hold $24 trillion in natural resources, however, there remains significant room for this wealth beneath the ground to translate to economic prosperity for the country. In 2025, it recorded a nominal GDP of approximately US$91.03 billion in 2025, which translates to a GDP per capita of around US$781. In spite of this, mining still remains the mainstay of the economy contributing around 40% to its GDP in 2024. DRC’s contribution to energy is reflected in different forms. Its oil and gas industry is largely quiet and depends solely on the Muanda oil field which produces about 19,500 barrels of oil per day. On the flipside, the country is the world's leading producer of cobalt which is a critical input for the manufacturing of batteries.

Retaining full economic value of its resource wealth remains a key priority for the country. This has particularly been challenged by security issues, the prevalence of informal artisanal mining and the lack of processing capacity for its natural resources. The country is progressing on its efforts to tackle security issues through its peace accords with Rwanda signed in 2025. Through the development of state-owned enterprises like DRC Gold Trading SA and Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC), the country is attempting to retrieve products from artisanal mining back into formal markets. Recent policy shifts have steered operators away from the export of raw concentrates towards local refining. The combination of these initiatives will see a growth in industrial activity in the country which generally translates to an increase in energy demand whose supply continues to experience bottlenecks. Energy is poised to play a key role in its economic growth and the country’s strategic direction remains to rehabilitate ailing energy infrastructure as well as create new offgrid and captive energy infrastructure.

Only about 21.5% of DRC’s population has access to electricity which is reflected in its low electricity consumption per capita of 147.5 kWh. Supply is heavily dominated by hydropower particularly from the Inga dam whose operational phases make up 63% of the installed capacity in the country. In total, DRC has 2,819 MW of installed capacity, 99.4% of this is contributed by hydropower, 0.3%, 0.2% and 0.1% by solar, biomass and wind respectively. The peak demand in the country is estimated at 4,213 MW which makes installed capacity about 66.9% of demand and significantly pales in comparison with the electricity access rate. The gap between them is indicative of the state of the current infrastructure that exists in the country. Of the 2,819 MW installed capacity, only about 1,914 MW is available to use due to old and poorly maintained hydropower infrastructure with the Inga dams operating at less than 50%. In addition, the vastness of the country’s landmass and its sparse population density means most of the population lives outside the reach of the grid. Only 45.4% of people living in urban areas have access to the grid and only 1.1% of people living in rural areas have access to the grid.

In response, the country’s strategy is increasingly shifting towards mini-grids as a means to reach areas without access to the national grid. Diversification of the energy mix plays very little role in the country’s short- to medium-term strategy for the company. Despite hydropower’s overwhelming dominance in the energy mix, more investment is pouring into hydropower projects. Expansion to the Ruzizi and Inga dams as well as new projects like Katende are in the pipeline and have a joint capacity of 5,070 MW which would more than triple the country’s current installed capacity. While these projects remain important, it is imperative for even more efforts to be poured into infrastructural rehabilitation to ensure that there will be optimal utilisation of the assets when completed. These projects can also increase DRC’s role as an exporter of electricity across Central and Southern Africa and create an additional path towards economic growth for the country.