By: Creamer media

Kamoa Copper has a copper production capacity of about 600 000 t/y.

Once operational, the solar facility will deliver about 300 000 MWh/y of clean energy, thereby reducing the mine's reliance on diesel-powered generators and significantly cutting carbon emissions.

The Kamoa energy plant components are currently being transported and the plant is expected to achieve commercial operation in 2026.

Integrating Sungrow’s string inverters with its medium-voltage system will ensure the project's high efficiency and that it can provide reliable power generation in the DRC’s challenging operating environment of humidity, rainfall and heat stress, Sungrow says.

The string solution design also enables efficient operations and maintenance and reduces the technical requirements on the in-house operations and maintenance team, thereby ensuring easier system management and maximised energy yield throughout the plant’s lifetime.

Further, the company is taking a pre-installation and pre-commissioning design approach to the project, which speeds up the time of grid connection and saves time for project delivery, while the independent power producer will benefit from early commissioning, it notes.

Soventix is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor. Sungrow has successfully delivered multiple projects with CrossBoundary Energy, including a solar energy system for the QIT Madagascar Minerals Mine.

For the DRC, where electricity access is available to only about 19% of the population, this project represents a step towards green industrialisation, particularly in the mining sector that underpins the country’s economy.