Last Tuesday 24 October, we were delighted to welcome in our offices several members of the Belgian press, amongst whom Michel Lauwers from L’Echo, David Adriaen from De Tijd, Philippe Lawson from L-Post and Luc Gochel from La Meuse to present our client’s Energreen fantastic hydroelectric project in the Nord Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Energreen’s daughter company ENK’s second hydroelectric power station was put into operation on 21 July 2023 with the aim of increasing the supply of electricity to the inhabitants of Beni, Butembo and surrounding areas. The official inauguration is scheduled for 15 November 2023 in the presence of the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi. Called Talihya Nord I, the new power station has a capacity of 12 megawatts and is located 18 km east of Butembo. It complements the first power station, Ivugha of 2.8 megawatts, built to the west of the same town and operational since April 2018.
Thanks to the two power stations, ENK is providing 15,000 customers representing 120,000 people with access to electricity out of a total population of more than 1.5 million in Beni and Butembo, and can serve the hospital in Beni, run by former Secretary of State for Development Cooperation and humanitarian surgeon Réginald Moreels, founder of Unichir, who set up a surgical and obstetric centre on site. ENK has facilitated the centre's access to its network and there are hardly any blackouts anymore. This will also enable Réginald Moreels to set up a health training centre next to the health centre, using e-health in particular.
With the new capacity offered by Talihya I, ENK is providing street lighting in the main streets of the two towns and it can also start supplying power to small and medium-sized businesses.
To date, Energreen has already invested $54 million (including $3.5 million in subsidies (mainly to cover studies) from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB)) in building the power stations, repairing the roads and installing 1,200 km of distribution lines and individual connections. And the founders of Energreen have other projects in the pipeline. Two other power stations are already on the agenda: Talihya Nord II (9 MW) and Lohulo (2.5 MW). Their construction will require an additional investment of $20-30 million.
The ENK projects are managed by Energreen's shareholders, companies held by Pierre Meyers, Marc Beyens, the Vanhoutte family and a private Congolese investor.
Liedekerke has been assisting Energreen with all their legal matters, the structuring of the projects and the energy regulation aspects since the very beginning and it was an honour to stand by their side on Tuesday 24th October to present the project.
Participants to the press conference:
For Energreen
Pierre Meyers, Marc Beyens, Loïc Vanhoutte, Jean-Louis Wilkin
For Unichir
Dr Réginald Moreels, Founder
For the University of Liège
Damien Ernst, Professor
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Department of Electricity, Electronics and Computer Science (Montefiore Institute)
Montefiore Institute of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
For the press
Michel Lauwers, L’Echo,
Philippe Lauwson, L-Post
Luc Goschel, La Meuse
David Adriaen, De Tijd
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