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CrossBoundary Energy, a financier of renewable projects in Africa, has launched commercial operations at a solar-plus-storage facility with 233MW of solar and 526MWh of storage capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Kamoa solar project is situated adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula Copper mine, which is the biggest copper mine in Africa and ranks among the largest worldwide. The mine is co-owned by Canadian mining company Ivanhoe Mines, Chinese state-run miner Zijin Mining, and the DRC government.
A power purchase agreement with the Kamoa Copper mine underpins the solar project. Through this deal, CrossBoundary said it would deliver round-the-clock electricity to the mine’s operations, allowing continued expansion at the site.
According to CrossBoundary Energy, the project illustrates that renewable baseload power is now able to compete with and surpass conventional fossil fuel generation in heavy industry, aided by falling costs of solar and battery technologies. Approximately 360,000 back contact modules from Chinese solar panel maker Aiko are deployed at the project. Aiko’s 655W dual-glass ABC modules carry a reported efficiency of 24.2%, featuring superior temperature coefficient and hotspot suppression that enhance safety and performance in hot climates such as the DRC’s.
CrossBoundary said construction was completed within 16 months of first signing the PPA with the mine, calling it the fastest built large-scale solar and battery energy storage project in Africa.
Data from energy think tank Ember shows that solar deployments in the DRC have expanded considerably in recent years and are projected to increase by over 500% in 2026. The nation has historically recorded very low rates of electricity adoption and access, but the growth of mining operations to extract its abundant critical minerals has driven greater investment in new energy capacity, such as the Kamoa solar project.
Ember further noted that oil and diesel price shocks stemming from the ongoing Middle East conflict have driven people who previously relied on generators to adopt solar. The think tank reported that solar module imports from China to Africa rose by 53% year-on-year in the 12 months ending June 2026, with 19 countries, among them the DRC, Zimbabwe and Egypt, on course to see solar installations expand by more than 100% this year.
In addition to solar growth, the DRC has imported more batteries than solar modules by dollar value over the past two years, per Ember. The think tank said battery imports far exceeded solar imports in the country, mainly to supply solar-plus-storage projects at copper mines.
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