Democratic Republic of Congo
Introduction Impact10
This note was developed by GOGLA with the support 53,451 85,279
of the World Bank Group technical team and Lighting people currently accessing people currently accessing
Global Program, the Energy Sector Management As- Tier 1 energy services Tier 2 energy services
sistance Program (ESMAP), the Shell Foundation,
USAID, Power Africa, The Foreign, Commonwealth &
Development Office (FCDO), Sustainable Energy for
All (SEforAll) and The Association Congolaise pour 526,692,831 94
les Énergies Renouvelables et Décentralisées (AC-
additional light hours un- change in quality of light in lu-
ERD). It is part of a series of briefing notes that pro- locked for study, productive mens per household
vide a high-level overview of the status of countries’ tasks or leisure time
off-grid solar markets, as well as relevant policies and
programs1.
627,024
Key statistics people currently living with improved energy access
Demographics2
Sales11
Total Population 89,561,404 Change in quality of light
Population Density per km2 40 60.000 54,316 54,747
GDP per Capita USD 556.8 51,185
50.000 48,027
GDP Growth 0.8%
41,814
Energy Access Deficit 3
40.000 38,147
National Electrification Rate 4 19%
Urban Electrification Rate 41% 30.000
Rural Electrification Rate 1%
Number of people without access to 70,213,569 20.000
electricity5 11,197
% of quality-verified6 (QV) vs non-QV pro- QV: 98% 10.000
ducts in the market7&8 (H1, 2021) Non-QV: 2%
Electrification Planning 0
Electrification Targets9 Universal access
by 2030
Sales of Portable Lanterns, Multi-light Systems and Solar Home Systems
1 The information and views expressed in this brief are GOGLA’s 8 Data on a specific region, country or product category is only in-
alone and are based on our current understanding of the policy sit- cluded when it has satisfied the three-data point rule, meaning that
uation in this country. We welcome any updates, revisions or clar- at least three separate product manufacturers have reported data
ifications at info@[Link]. for any single data point. When we have fewer than three re-
2The data here are for the year of 2020 - sponses for a region, country or product category, no results are
[Link] shown to protect the proprietary interests of the companies who
3 The data here are for the year of 2019 - [Link] have supplied data in support of this industry report.
[Link] 9 Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa Hub, SEforALL
4 The national electrification rate as projected by The Government 10Impact numbers have been estimated on the basis of the Stand-
of Democratic Republic of Congo is 15% in 2014 (No recent data ardized Impact Metrics for the Off-Grid Solar Energy Sector. The
on the national electrification rate has been published by the gov- reported estimates differ from the previous edition of the country
ernment of DRC although public and private institutions estimate briefings due a change in the calculation approach. Note that while
a rate between 9% and 12%) the numbers shown represent the aggregate impact of key players
The initial national electrification rate as projected by The Energy in the off-grid solar sector, these estimates do not present the full
Progress Report in 2019 is 19% country impact of off-grid solar lighting products sold.
5 [Link] 11 All sales data included in this briefing is derived from the “Global
6 Quality-verified products are tested according to the IEC TS Off-Grid Solar Market Report Database”, result of a joint primary
62257-9-8. For more information please see the Verasol quality data collection effort carried out by GOGLA in partnership with IFC
assurance programme. Lighting Global and the Efficiency for Access Coalition. The public
7 Share of quality-verified (QV) and non-QV products sold by version of the resulting report of the effort is available here.
GOGLA and Lighting Global affiliates.
Current Status companies this can be a barrier to finance from inter-
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s national electric- national investors.
ity access rate is estimated at 19%. Less than 1% of
Policy, Regulation and Sector Planning
the rural population and 41% of the urban population
has energy access. Of the country’s 10 million house-
There is no national energy policy in place nor na-
holds, only 1.6 million have have access to electricity.
tional electrification plan due to limited institutional
This makes it the third largest population in the world
capacity. Instead, the government developed the Na-
without access to electricity. Energy poverty is at- tional Strategic Development Plan (Plan National
tributed to factors such as cost tariffs, poor utility per-
Stratégique de Développement [PNSD]), which has a
formance and lack of financial viability, compounded
section focusing on electricity. The DRC is waiting for
by governance issues. the establishment of an electricity regulatory author-
ity and development of a detailed electricity law.
There is no interconnected national power transmis-
sion network in the DRC, which is instead structured The DRC aims to connect 32% of the country to elec-
into three independent interprovincial grids. The
tricity by 2030. Meeting this challenge will require co-
western and southern grids are connected by a High
ordinated efforts from various stakeholders, support-
Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) line. The eastern grid
ive policies and regulations, and technical assistance
is more remote and will not be be connected. support to prospective projects in order to attract in-
vestments.
Grid-supplied energy is not a low-cost solution for
much of the country. Off-grid solar offers modular so- To strengthen legal and regulatory framework and
lutions to rapidly expand affordable energy access.
catalyze private and public investment flow to the
However, there is no public off-grid electricity service
sector (including off-grid solar energy), The DRC gov-
and private sector delivery is hampered by a weak ernment established two agencies: ARE, which will be
regulatory environment, fiscal framework, lack of ac-
the autonomous regulatory agency; and ANSER,
cess to credit, and inefficient import procedures.
which is responsible for rural electrification through-
out the DRC’s vast territory. However, the 2 agencies
Despite these challenges, there is promising market do not really regulate the OGS sector (only mini-
potential for off-grid solar in the DRC. Over 17 off-grid grids). The 2014 Electricity Law among others pro-
solar companies are registered in the DRC; of which a vides for the creation of the 2 agencies. ANSER subse-
handful of companies, including Congolese compa- quently set up Mwinda Fund which is the DRC gov-
nies such as Altech, GoShop and Weast Energie, and ernment initiative aimed at raising US$500 million by
international companies such as BBOXX and Orange 2024, to bring electricity to 15 million Congolese liv-
Energie, have sold over 200,000 solar lanterns, a few ing in rural areas. The government has asked the
hundred large component-based systems for institu- World Bank to take the lead on financing the fund as
tions and productive uses, and tens of thousands of the bank contemplates injecting US$100 million into
Verasol-certified solar home systems. These sales are the initiative.
across almost all provinces, but mainly in Kinshasa
and Kivus. Meanwhile, several international and local Taxation
pay-as-you go (PAYGo) solar providers (such as Bao-
bab+, or Apalia24) have entered the country, drawn An import duty of 34% and Value Added Tax of 16%
by the tremendous market potential. However, the is applicable to off-grid solar products. The VAT and
off-grid solar market is still limited by very high costs duty exemptions in place for off-grid solar products
of operations overall due to the aforementioned fac- are issued on a case-by-case basis rather than on a
tors that make the DRC a challenging business envi- general basis and require bureaucratic and some-
ronment (see for example the 2018 RISE indica- what opaque procedures.
tors).12
The country’s economy contracted by 1.7% in 2020,
the first recession in 25 years due to the COVID-19
pandemic. This will likely have an impact on the pur-
chasing power of off-grid solar customers. Moreover,
the DRC has been struggling with deteriorating ex- Investments
change rates for some time, and for off-grid solar
12The 2018 Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE), indicating that the country is in the bottom third in their policy
a World Bank index that “assesses countries’ policy and regula- and regulatory environment. [Link]
tory support for each of the three pillars of sustainable energy
(access to modern energy, energy efficiency, and renewable en-
ergy),” places DRC in a red zone in terms of grid electrification—
The DRC has benefited from several grant-making a US$600 million project with a significant amount of
and concessional financing schemes that have helped grant funding to support private sector off-grid sec-
to unlock private capital for the off-grid solar sector. tor. The PID is expected to be made public soon.
In 2021, the Swedish investment platform (Trine) en- In 2020, Power Africa awarded Bboxx with a grant to
tered a partnership with Altech, a leading company in introduce pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar energy solu-
the distribution sustainable energy products and ser- tions. As a result, Bboxx sold more than 3,000 SHS kits
vices18. Trine is supporting the acceleration of solar which led to nearly 15,000 people to have first-time
energy adoption by providing 5 million euros. The reliable and affordable electricity access in Ituri and
first instalment arrived in September 2021 and was Kivu provinces.
used to finance the purchase of 3,000 solar home sys-
tems. Promoting Quality & E-Waste Management
In 2021 the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) Solar quality standards are overseen by the Office
launched a country program, with €20 million financ- Congolais de Controle with support from the Société
ing from Sweden. BGFA will provide financial incen- d’Exploitation du Guichet Unique du Commerce Exté-
tives to private companies that will offer high-quality rieur de la République Démocratique du Congo (SE-
and sustainable energy services and products to rural GUE). Currently, there are no clear details regarding
and peri-urban homes in energy poor regions to ac- the quality standards for off-grid solar products.
celerate private sector provision of clean energy.
However, programs such as the World Bank funded
Despite difficulties in raising private commercial EASE project require products to adhere to Verasol
funding, Bboxx received a loan of US$4 million from quality standards, providing the first instance of tech-
the Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Ac- nical quality standards adopted by a government pro-
cess Fund (FEI OGEF) in 2020. The objective is to ac- gram.
celerate access to energy in the DRC by highlighting
the use of off-grid energy in the provinces of Kivu, The DRC is expected to produce 16,050 tons of elec-
Ituri and Tshopo. The funding may be extended to trical and electronic waste, according to a study car-
other areas of the DRC. In early 2020, Bboxx also an- ried out by the Belgian group, Groupe One. There are
nounced a Memorandum Of Understanding with the currently no regulations or legislative frameworks
DRC to bring clean energy to 10 million people, the concerning e-waste. However, there are independent
equivalent of 10% of the country's population.13 initiatives that provide solutions such as the Déchets
d’Équipement Électriques et Électroniques (DEEE)
Sector Support Programs Katanga project carried out by Groupe One. 14
The World Bank-funded Electricity Access and Ser- Opportunities and Barriers 15&16
vice Expansion (EASE) project has launched a results-
based financing scheme (RBF)17. EASE has a total The growth of the sector is limited by a number of fac-
funding of US$15 million, of in which US$4.4 million tors. The country’s political fragility – which includes
will be used to support 4 off-grid solar companies weak governance, conflict and security issues, poor
(i.e., Bboxx, Altech, Orange and Weast) in distributing transport infrastructure, lack of public financial ca-
quality-verified products. As of December 2021, more pacity, and the absence of framework for policies and
than 25,000 solar lamps and SHS were sold in north regulations to encourage private sector investment in
and south Kivu, Kwilu and Ituri. Component 2 under the off-grid solar sector. Additional constrains in-
EASE has a total of US$25 million, of which US$10 mil- clude no affordable financing mechanisms to con-
lion is allocated to the Credit Line and US$15 million sumers and operators in a context of low end-user
to the Electrification Fund. Both instruments support purchasing power, high costs of capital and a weak
solar distributors and mini-grid operators. commercial banking sector. There is also a lack of in-
In addition, a new World Bank project is currently un- formation about all aspects of power demand, which
der preparation that will scale support schemes for magnifies the challenge of planning.
mini-grid development and solar distributors under
EASE. The project is currently under negotiation and
will go to Board for approval on 31st March 2022. It is
13 [Link] 15 [Link]
with-fei-ogef-in-the-drc/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_cam- loads/2020/11/[Link]
paign=november-bau&utm_medium=organic&utm_con- 16 [Link]
tent=feiogf-loan loads/2016/07/30_RDC-[Link]
14 [Link]
The DRC has a limited electricity grid, which repre-
sents a huge opportunity for off-grid solar with a sup-
portive and appropriate enabling environment.
There are tremendous opportunities for off-grid mar-
ket growth in the DRC, afforded by its geography,
scale, political impetus and recent institutional
changes - the creation of a REA and a subsidy fund,
and a dynamic though mostly informal economy. The
World Bank under EASE is currently providing signif-
icant financial and technical support to ARE and AN-
SER to develop regulations that will improve the ena-
bling environment in the DRC for the off-grid sector
and increase participation of the private sector.
Since the first forum on electric energy in 2019, Pres-
ident Tchisekedi declared that access to electricity is
one of his national priorities. It is hopeful that devel-
opments and a better regulatory environment in the
off-grid solar energy sector will be developed.24
Industry Association
The Association Congolaise pour les Énergies Re-
nouvelables et Décentralisées (ACERD)25 is an inde-
pendent non-profit organization working for the de-
velopment of renewable energies in the DRC. Created
in 2018 through support of ELAN program. ACERD
coordinates energy companies in the DRC to respond
to energy access issues and create a conducive envi-
ronment for the development of the renewable en-
ergy private sector. With more than 35 members it is
already establishing itself nationally and has gained
membership in the Global Off-Grid Lighting Associa-
tion (GOGLA). ACERT also contributed to the Mwinda
Fund concept and is being consulted.
Further Information
• Le secteur des énergies renouvelables et décentralisées
en République Démocratique du Congo
• Pan-African Industrial company Eranove and its part-
ners sign the concession agreement for three solar
mini-grid projects ESSOR in northern Democratic Re-
public of Congo (DRC)
• Off-Grid Solar Market Assessment Democratic Republic
of Congo
• Accès à l'énergie par le biais d'installations solaires
hors réseau: Documents d'information à destination
des gouvernements
• Rapport National "Énergie durable pour tous à l'hori-
zon 2030"
24[Link] 25 Visit ACERD for more information
loads/files/[Link]
