Anyone who has their residence will be able to access the electric current in North Kivu, a province in the east of the DRC

This province located in the east of the country, it borders 4 DR-Congolese provinces, a Ugandan region and Rwanda. It borders Ituri province to the north, Tshopo and Maniema provinces to the west, and South Kivu to the south. To the east, it is bordered by Uganda and Rwanda. This province has long been rocked by wars for decades and the Ebola virus disease that have claimed thousands of lives.

Virunga SARL lights up the province of North Kivu at a lower cost

About four years ago, Virunga SARL started distributing electric power in Ruthuru, and today it has gone to Goma, the capital city of North Kivu. In the territories of Rutshuru and Nyirangongo, with 153USD a resident can obtain single-phase and three-phase current for pettes and medium enterprises at 276UD.

According to some residents contacted, they say that they did not dream of having electric current in their households because to subscribe to electric companies the latter were recommended to pay more than 1000USD "to connect to the current of mondo guiston I was asked to pay 1500USD when at my level it is difficult for me to get even a sum of 200USD the quarter ”declares Mr. Faustin resident of Rutshuru. "But following this current with prepayment technology" some of them say that the current of 5USD can be used in three months if they have devices that do not consume enough energy. It should be noted that following this current from the Hydroelectric Power Station of Matebe de Virunga SARL which produces around 13MW, more than 700 small and medium-sized enterprises have been created following this current which reduces the unemployment rate of the population living near the Park National Virunga thing which leads to its objective.

Note that this company has a vision of producing in the province of North Kivu around 100MW in order to light all of the province of North Kivu, a quantity of the electric current which will be produced through the power stations in Beni, Lubero, Masisi and Rutshuru.

According to the economics experts contacted by your editorial staff, affirm that through the connection cost that this company offers its energy, a person who resides in the village can obtain electric current in six months to a year.

Apart from the Virunga SARL power plants, North Kivu will experiment with the production of methane, more than 80MW will be produced;

Several companies as well as the agencies of the United Nations system installed in North Kivu operate at full speed thanks to generators.  The production of electric current remains in deficit for the whole of the province which does not however lack credible alternatives to compensate for its gap in electricity. Current efforts are aimed at helping this eastern province of the country to acquire energy in acceptable quantity and quality. Beyond the traditional means of producing electricity, the provincial authorities are now supporting efforts to diversify the production of electricity. It is not surprising to report an approach aimed at capturing the heat generated by the Nyiragongo volcano to transform it into electrical energy. Geothermal specialists are already hard at work in North Kivu to develop this unprecedented means in the Republic of Congo (DRC).

However, the real challenge for the province is the exploitation, before the end of the year, of methane gas. This is 56 billion m3 of methane located on the border between Rwanda and the DRC. There is also 300 billion m3 of carbon dioxide generated by the volcanic activity of the region and the decomposition of organic matter. With a clear energy supply, it is estimated that 50% of the population of Goma should benefit from electric current thanks to this energy. In addition, this methane from Lake Kivu represents approximately 1,300 MW of shared energy potential in the Great Lakes region. One of its assets is its permanent regeneration. This, of course, removes any prospect of a break in electricity production as soon as it is launched. Beyond this, part of the methane can easily be used or sold in cylinders for domestic use as fuel, according to some researchers. It should be recalled that Rwanda has started exploiting this gas in Lake Kivu (Rwandan side) since 2016.

As for operations on the Congolese side, the responsibility for the extraction will be entrusted to the Tunisian company Engineering Procurement management. For the country, the biggest challenge will be to sufficiently prepare the ground for the exploitation of these new sources of electricity production. However, significant constraints are already emerging, in particular the volcanic soil, the proximity of dwellings and roads, the difficult crossing of existing power lines, the problem of qualified technicians, access to financing from the energy sector, the price of very high energy purchase, poor perception of the metering system and of course the technical and regulatory challenges. The list is not exhaustive. All experts agree that the energy produced in eastern DRC and across the country must be competitively priced. Stresses the Central African Information Agency.

                                 Roger Sebyera.