- The Grand Inga dam is estimated to have an output capacity of 42 GW.
- The dam has the potential to supply green electricity to the entire sub-Saharan region.
The US$80 billion Grand Inga Dam project, including transmission lines to send electricity across Africa and Europe, is acclaimed as having the potential to supply green electricity to the entire sub-Saharan region.
The African Development Bank and the World Bank approved US$141m in grants for the preparation of the project in the years 2013 and 2014.
Recently, the project has received a fresh boost after Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Group confirmed its alliance with the Democratic Republic of Congo to invest in the development of the world’s largest hydroelectric project in Africa.
The Inga Dam project is a proposed series of seven hydroelectric power stations near the Inga Falls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is an improvement of the existing 351 MW Inga 1 and 1,424 MW Inga 2 plants completed in 1972 and 1982, respectively.
On completion, the dam is estimated to have an output capacity of 42 GW, generating more electricity than the world’s two biggest hydropower plants, Three Gorges on the Yangtze River in China (22.5 GW of generation capacity) and Itaipu in South America (14 GW of generation capacity), combined. This will make it the world’s largest power plant.