The DRC Copperbelt is quietly building more than 3 GWh of battery storage

The mines of the DRC Copperbelt are quietly rolling out over 3 GWh of battery storage, with most projects already commissioned or under construction. The details of the roll-out have attracted little attention as they are scattered across French, English and Mandarin websites, but dig those details out and the scale and speed of the roll-out becomes apparent.

I think this may be Africa’s largest industrial battery storage roll-out. It is not a centrally planned programme - which might explain the limited publicity - but a mine-by-mine commercial response to a weak grid intersecting with improved battery and inverter technology, lower battery storage costs and increasingly volatile diesel prices.

More than 3GWh of battery storage is being added in the DRC Copperbelt - AmaranthCX Southern African Power Map

The DRC Copperbelt is not short of electricity on paper. There are five major hydro power stations with a combined nominal capacity of about 700 MW, the 1,700 km Inga-Kolwezi HVDC line is rated at up to 1,000 MW, and the 220 kV Luano-Karavia interconnector provides 500 MW of transfer capacity from Zambia and onwards from the Southern African Power Pool. This is supplemented by large diesel genset fleets and increasing solar PV installations, yet the region still relies on an old, weak and poorly maintained grid serving extremely demanding industrial loads.

Huge crusher and mill motors, blister copper smelters and electrowinning plants are tough even on a robust grid. On a weak grid, they are even harder to manage. For decades the solve has been diesel gensets, however they are at the end of a very long overland trucking route and diesel supply is logistically risky, expensive and volatile. To partially address the problem Kamoa-Kakula helped rehabilitate Mwadingusha, Sicomines developed Busanga, and mining capital has been contributed for grid improvements.

Falling battery costs and improved inverter technology mean that large-scale battery storage can be deployed much faster than significant grid improvements, while also doing what diesel gensets cannot. Battery storage can react in milliseconds to cover grid disturbances, smooth sudden changes in load, and support grid voltage and frequency. Battery storage, when combined with the right inverters and control systems, can also help a mine transition between grid-connected and islanded operation without interrupting its energy intensive operations.

The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Smelter’s 60 MW, 120MWh UPS is a good example because it serves to buffer a very demanding industrial process from a weak grid. Beyond this Kamoa-Kakula’s two new under construction solar projects combine 433 MWp of PV with 1,107 MWh of battery storage, designed to deliver just 60 MW of continuous power to the mine. What seems clear is that the implementation of battery storage is primarily driven by reliability, with solar serving to improve the economics, rather than the inverse where batteries are often an add-on to a solar installation.

But the benefit goes in both directions because the batteries buffer the mines from a weak grid while also buffering the grid from the mine’s demanding loads. Rather than the public grid absorbing the major fluctuations caused by crushers and mills or other significant load shifts, a behind-the-meter microgrid control system can manage them internally.

The related solar PV installations are also generally behind-the-meter, supplying the internal load directly, charging batteries and displacing diesel generation, rather than feeding electricity back into the public grid. This is in contrast to many other African solar programmes where the primary objective is to add generation to a national system - like Zambia’s very aggressive solar roll out.

Mining companies can procure and install battery storage much quicker than improvements can be made to the public grid. A new international grid interconnector takes years to conceptualise, plan, finance and construct, while building large substations and existing transmission reinforcements is also very slow. Battery storage is increasingly allowing mining companies to work around the slow pace of grid investment rather than substitute for it permanently.

As the DRC Copperbelt installs several gigawatt-hours of battery storage and hundreds of megawatts of inverter capacity behind its largest loads, those loads become more manageable and less disruptive to the public grid.

The mines have kept spending to compensate for a weak public grid. What has changed is the technology available to them, and the net effect may be both more reliable power on the mines and a more reliable public grid.

DRC Copperbelt mining solar + battery storage inventory

Mine and metallurgical projects | Status at 9 August 2026

Mine / operation	Solar PV (MWp)	BESS (MWh)	Status	Confidence
Kamoa-Kakula hybrid solar/BESS (combined existing facilities)	433	1,107	Commissioning nearing completion; first power delivered in July 2026 and full 60 MW baseload output targeted by end-Q3 2026	High
Kai Peng Mining (KPM), Likasi – Phases I + II	440	900	Phase I operating; Phase II under construction / build-out toward combined capacity	High
Ruashi Mining	118	330	Construction / commissioning; contractual completion was 30 July 2026, with final operating status not yet confirmed	High
Sabwe / Lonshi copper mine	71.4	230	EPCM contract signed in 2026; implementation / early works, with physical construction status not independently confirmed	High
KOMIKA / Kamoya-Kambove	65	135	Under construction / implementation in 2026; latest commissioning status not independently confirmed	Medium-high
Kamoa-Kakula copper smelter UPS	—	~120*	Installed / operating with the smelter; separate from the mine solar/BESS facilities	Medium-high
LAMIKAL	50	100	Operating; accepted and handed over in April 2026	High
Deziwa / SOMIDEZ	76	100	Operating; formal generation / revenue operation by late July 2026	High
Kambove Mining / Gangbofu	27	85	Operating; fully commissioned / commercial power supply	High
Luisha Mining	32	58	Operating / commissioning complete following full-line energisation in June 2026	High
TCC / Tengyuan Copper & Cobalt, Kolwezi	32	50	Under construction; supplier identifies the DRC TCC mine / metallurgical microgrid	Medium-high
Brother Mining / BMS (combined plant)	38	40	Supplier lists the combined solar-storage-diesel plant as operating in 2026; earlier phase disclosures were slightly different	Medium-high
SOMIKA / Lupoto	10 (5 Phase I)	36	Phase I reported near completion; current commissioning / operating status not independently confirmed	Medium
COMMUS / Musonoie	23	33.54	Preliminary commissioning completed; operating stably, with final acceptance / certification still pending	High
CCR / Congo Chengtun Resources – Phases I + II	17.58	22	Both phases listed as operating, with operation dates of 2024 and 2025	Medium-high
Kalongwe Mining / KMSA	20	20	Under construction in supplier record; later commissioning status not confirmed	Medium-high
Lukuni hydrometallurgical plant / Huayou	3	10	Operating since May 2025	High
CNMC Huachin Mabende	8	4	Operating / grid-connected; disclosed as-built figures have varied slightly across sources	Medium-high
Lower certainty projects
Kamoa-Kakula additional hybrid expansion	235 reported	581 reported	Additional 30 MW baseload PPA / EPC signed; target Q3 2027. Published phase labelling and possible overlap with existing Green World capacity still require reconciliation	Medium
Kipushi Mine	N/D†	up to 200	Tender / procurement; intended to provide 10 MW baseload to the mine, with operation targeted for end-2027	High
Global Mining / Huanqiu Mining – DRC site not identified	90	200	Energy-management agreement signed January 2026; physical works and Copperbelt site identity not confirmed	Medium
Kinsevere / MMG	N/D	N/D	BESS confirmed underway; construction and commissioning scheduled for Q3 2026, but capacity has not been disclosed	High
Unidentified DRC mine – Junhao disclosure	50 reported	150 reported	Supplier describes an integrated mine microgrid; site identity and possible overlap with LAMIKA remain unresolved	Low
Unidentified DRC smelter – possibly CNMC Huaxin	13	8	Under construction in supplier record; site identity not independently confirmed	Medium
KPM Phase III / ultimate build-out	+~160	>300 additional	Planned future phase toward 600 MWp of solar and more than 1.2 GWh cumulative storage	Medium
Kamoa-Kakula further hybrid expansion	N/D	N/D	Further 30 MW baseload facility reported in final contract negotiation as of July 2026	High

Confidence key. High = owner, regulator, listed-company filing or primary corporate disclosure; Medium-high = named project with specific supplier/EPC disclosure but some uncertainty; Medium = credible project evidence but site identity, phase or current status uncertain; Low = uncertain site/Copperbelt location or meaningful duplication risk.

* Kamoa smelter UPS energy is inferred from the disclosed 60 MW output for up to two hours; Ivanhoe has not disclosed a 120 MWh battery nameplate figure. † For Kipushi, Ivanhoe discloses a 10 MW baseload supply target and up to 200 MWh of storage, not a PV peak capacity. N/D = not disclosed.

Scope note. Focused on mine and metallurgical loads in the DRC Copperbelt. Solar/BESS projects identified as outside the Copperbelt, including Kibali, not included.