General Electric Co. and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed preliminary agreements to develop some $1.8 billion worth of energy and health projects in the central African country, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
The deals include about $1 billion of hydropower projects that would produce 1,000 megawatts of power for Congo’s grid over a three-year period, and $800 million in infrastructure investments within the health sector.
According to the International Hydropower Association (IHA), the Democratic Republic of the Congo had 2,472 megawatts of installed hydropower capacity as of 2014. The country possesses significant potential for hydropower because of its 150-kilometer (93-mile) long Congo River, the largest by volume, most powerful river on the continent, which flows through 10 countries before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.
The river holds its greatest hydropower potential at the site of Inga Falls, the site of on
