Congo Pitches World’s Largest Hydro Site as Power Source for AI Data Centres

The Democratic Republic of Congo is pitching the world’s largest hydroelectric site as a source of cheap, renewable energy for data centres, amid surging global demand driven by artificial intelligence.

The Inga complex on the Congo River currently generates less than 2 gigawatts of power, just a fraction of its 44-gigawatt potential, according to Bloomberg.

The government believes that partnering with data centre operators could help unlock that capacity, said Bob Mabiala Mvumbi, head of Congo’s Inga Development Agency.

With nearly twice the power potential of China’s Three Gorges Dam, abundant cooling water, and access to fibre networks, “you would not have a better place than Inga for a data center,” Mabiala said.

As AI and cloud computing fuel an unprecedented need for energy, companies such as OpenAI and Oracle Corp. are exploring data centres with multi-gigawatt capacity, enough to power close to 900,000 homes annually.

Interest in African data centre expansion is also rising. Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon Web Services Inc. have announced multiple projects in East and Southern Africa, said Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking CEO Luvuyo Masinda.

“If you can ensure a consistent power supply, Africa remains a relatively cheaper entry point compared to developed markets,” Masinda said. “Some of these projects cost between $3 billion and $4 billion. Not all will materialise, but that’s the scale we’re talking about.”

Congo’s Inga site currently hosts two dams built over four decades ago. Plans to expand through the long-delayed Grand Inga project, which would eventually comprise eight dams, have been repeatedly stalled by costs and logistics.

But momentum for the next phase, Inga III, is picking up as the country’s copper mining sector faces acute power shortages.

In June, the World Bank committed $1 billion toward the project. The bank plans to commit $250 million toward Inga III, a portion of the Grand Inga hydropower complex.

The project builds on earlier phases, Inga I, a 351-megawatt plant commissioned in 1972, and Inga II, a 1,424-megawatt facility launched a decade later.

Inga III forms part of the World Bank’s Mission 300 program, which has an ambitious target to bring electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030. The World Bank President Ajay Banga says the broader effort could attract up to $85 billion in private investment.

Once completed, the project, expected to cost $10 billion, could generate 11,000 megawatts of power, which is more than three times Congo’s current capacity.