Licensed pilot PURE Power DRC
Democratic Republic of the Congo — the river program.
PURE Power DRC starts at Nioki, a river-trade town in Mai-Ndombe province: a solar plant with cold storage and ice production on its own site, a productive use hub at the market, powered by one line between them that serves the first customers on the way. This is Phase 0, followed by phased distribution to commercial customers and then to residential customers. Additional power can be installed modularly to meet the industry that stable, affordable power is expected to attract.
Rural electricity access in the country is about 1%, and a financially viable and sustainable electrification program is poised to be replicated and scaled across the country.
Program instruments in the DRC have been entered into by Gigawatt DRC SARL, which is performing under the PURE Power DRC program.
At a glance
Figures are indicative, drawn from World Bank World Development Indicators, national energy compacts and national statistics, latest available year; full sources on request.
- Population
- 113 million (2025)
- Rural population
- 55% (2025)
- Agriculture in employment
- 59% (2025)
- Electricity access, national
- ≈22% (2024)
- Electricity access, rural
- ≈1% (2024)
- Clean cooking access
- ≈1–5% (2023–2025)
- Currency
- Congolese franc (CDF), with the US dollar in wide circulation
- Languages
- French; Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba
1Instruments in place
- Production and commercialization licenses and the concession for Nioki, Mai-Ndombe province, held by Gigawatt DRC SARL
- Core plant equipment financed under an executed catalytic grant; pilot plant equipment in procurement
- Feasibility, environmental and tariff studies completed with Congolese engineering partners
2The pilot at Nioki
Nioki is a river-trade town on the Fimi; its market and port are where trade already happens. The pilot is the template for every later town.
- Phase 0 — plant, hub and one line. A solar plant with storage and generator backup on its own site; a low-cost line of about 3 km along the corridor to the hub by the market, connecting the first customers on the way — telecom, health, water and administration.
- The market hub. Milling, processing, cold storage, workshops, charging and points of sale. Ice made at the plant is delivered to the market and to a cold store at the quay.
- Phases 1 and 2. Business connections along the corridor, then households, as planned; results-based finance and partner programs added as they come.
- What the pilot proves. Utilization, collections and maintenance, verified on a published record — the template every later town follows.
3Agriculture and value chains
Cassava — the DRC is among the world's largest producers and consumers — plantain, maize, groundnut, rice and oil palm. Post-harvest losses reach 17% for maize; cassava and palm-oil processing remain largely informal against enormous raw volumes. Value addition close to the field, and cold chain on the river routes, is the opportunity.
4Energy compact and regulation
The DRC's National Energy Compact (January 2025) targets 62% electricity access and 30% clean cooking by 2030 with a five-fold expansion of capacity and US$20 billion of private capital. Mini-grids operate under public-service concessions of up to thirty years under the electricity law of 17 June 2014; the national rural electrification agency has been operational since 2020. Large off-grid funds are now disbursing grants to mini-grid, solar home system and clean-cooking operators.
5Counterpart institutions
- Energy
- Ministère des Ressources Hydrauliques et de l'Électricité; SNEL (utility); ANSER (rural and peri-urban electrification agency); ARE (regulator)
- Agriculture
- Ministère de l'Agriculture et Sécurité Alimentaire
- Finance
- Ministère des Finances
6Programs the hubs can attach to
- Mwinda Fund — off-grid energy grants (World Bank)
- Access to Green Energy (AGREE) program
- ASCENT-GREEN distributed renewable energy program (Green Climate Fund, World Bank)
- Agricultural value-chain development projects (African Development Bank)
- Mission 300 National Energy Compact
7What is different here
- Scale and river logistics: a country the size of Western Europe with sparse roads. Hubs are organized around river ports and provincial capitals, not a national road or grid backbone; small, modular sites are the logistics answer.
- Dollarization: the US dollar circulates alongside the franc — pricing, payroll and collection are designed for a two-currency economy from day one.
- Security is regional, not national: parts of the east are affected by conflict; the west, center and south are comparatively stable and are treated separately in siting.
8How deployment runs
The pilot at Nioki first; then clusters along the river corridors, each wave opened when the previous one meets its gates — utilization, collections and maintenance — and brought forward wherever added funding allows. Equipment moves by water; regional bases carry engineering, spares and training.
- Wave 1, from 2027 — Mai-Ndombe. The river cluster around Nioki: Inongo, Bandundu, Mushie, Kutu, Oshwe, Kiri and Bolobo.
- Wave 2, from 2028 — western corridors. Kwilu, Kwango, Kongo-Central and the river north to Mbandaka, served from Kinshasa.
- Waves 3 and 4, 2029–2030 — national. The centre, north and south from Kananga, Kisangani and Lubumbashi, and the east.
Locations and timing are indicative, in step with the national energy compact.
9Next step
Engagement runs through the Bujumbura headquarters and Gigawatt DRC SARL.
A country launch-phase package — site assessment, equipment configuration against local crops and volumes, the partner and program map, and a funding roadmap built on programs already financed in the country — is prepared jointly with the country member for an interested government or funder.