One of the key hydropower projects implemented in Africa last year was commissioning of the last of the four units of the Zungeru hydropower plant (HPP) in Nigeria. The facility is located on the Kaduna River, a left tributary of the Niger, the largest river in West Africa. Investment in the project reached $10 billion: 75% invested by China National Electrical Engineering Corporation (CNEEC) and 25% came from the State budget. The 700 MW facility is one of the three largest HPPs in Nigeria, which also include the Kainji HPP on the Niger River (760 MW) and the Shiroro HPP (600 MW) on the aforementioned Kaduna River. At the same time, the country has great potential for new capacity: according to the International Hydropower Association, up to 14 GW of hydropower capacity can be placed in the water areas of Nigeria, which is five times the current capacity of all local HPPs.
Another major project was commissioning of the 750 MW Kafue Gorge Lower HPP located 90 kilometers away from the capital Lusaka. The facility having five hydropower units that can generate TWh of electricity per year, which is equivalent to 15% of Zambia’s annual electricity consumption. In turn, last year’s small projects in Africa included commissioning of the 10MW Tigo HPP for supplying the capital of Kano State in northern Nigeria.
A number of projects in the region are still at a pre-investment stage. For example, last year the Government of Tanzania and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed an agreement on construction of a dam HPP on the Kagera River, one of the largest in East Africa. The 88 MW HPP will be able to supply 3 to 4 million people. The project total cost will reach $307 million, $271 million of which will be loans from AFD and the African Development Bank. In turn, in 2023, the Government of Mozambique selected a consortium of France’s EDF and TotalEnergies and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. as a technology partner in construction of the 1.5 GW Mphanda Nkuwa run-of-river HPP. The project will be implemented 60 kilometers away from Tete town in the Zambezi River basin, the fourth longest river in Africa.
Construction of hydropower plants is one of the ways to address the energy deficit in Africa. According to the World Bank, the electrification rate in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 was 51% (excluding South Africa), with rural areas barely above the 30% mark.
