Progress
22%Aim
The Grand Inga Dam Project on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo will harness the world's second-largest river by discharge to generate up to 43,200 MW of clean hydropower, enough to supply electricity to over 40% of Africa's population and anchor a continental power grid.
Progress to date
In June 2025 the World Bank approved a USD 250 million credit as the first tranche of a USD 1 billion Inga 3 Development Program, providing renewed momentum. However, Chinese developer Three Gorges Corporation withdrew from the project in January 2025, requiring the DRC to identify replacement investors for the 11,050 MW Inga 3 phase.
Challenges
Financing at scale for the full Grand Inga vision remains unresolved, governance and transparency concerns within the DRC continue to deter some investors, and the project depends on robust regional power-pooling agreements to distribute electricity across borders economically.
Next steps
The DRC and the AU are actively seeking new anchor investors for Inga 3, advancing the Southern African Power Pool integration agreements needed to absorb the output, and using the World Bank program to de-risk the next phase of construction.