Captive Power Projects: A summary of the Western Africa regulatory environment | Page 12

Democratic Republic of Congo

OVERVIEW
Degree of favourability
Presence of a monopoly company
Existing opportunities. The development of power projects in the DRC remains relatively new, and the region is generally considered a challenging place to do business. Since 2014, the DRC has been engaged in extensive reform of the electricity sector to develop its energy resources.
The historic state-owned electricity company, Société Nationale d’ Electricité( SNEL), is no longer in a monopoly position. Law No. 14 / 011 of 17 June 2014 on the electricity sector ended SNEL’ s monopoly and opened up the market for production, transmission and distribution of electricity to the private sector.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Types of authorisations required and associated thresholds( if applicable)
Granting modalities( decree, order …) Applicable Law( s)
Self-production
Independent producers
Authorisation required for electricity projects located outside of the public domain with an installed capacity of between 100 kW and 9,999 kW. These thresholds may be too small in practice for captive power projects.
A decree sets out the terms and conditions for the sale of surplus electricity. However, the notion of“ auto-production” is not expressly defined. To be further investigated with the administration.
License required for electricity projects located outside of the public domain with an installed capacity above 1 MW.
Concession regime applies to projects located in the public domain, as well as to the transport and distribution of energy( no maximum installed capacity threshold identified). 10
Authorisations granted by the provincial governor or by the decentralised territorial entity.
To be further investigated with the administration.
Licenses granted by the provincial governor, upon instruction and after examination and approval by the Electricity Regulatory Authority.
Concessions granted following an invitation to tender, or, exceptionally, through a direct agreement.
Law No. 14 / 011 of 17 June 2014 on the electricity sector
Law No. 18 / 031 of 13 December 2018 amending Law No. 14 / 011 of 17 June 2014
Ministerial Decree No. 031 / CAB / MIN-ENRH / 2017 of 21 April 2017, setting out the conditions and the procedure for the certification of service providers in the energy sector
Decree No. 18-052 of 24 December 2018 setting out the procedures for selecting operators, awarding, amending and cancelling concessions, licenses, and authorizations in the electricity sector
Decree No.
082 / CAB / MIN / ENRH / 18 dated 27 December 2018
Law No. 14 / 011 of 17 June 2014 on the electricity sector
Order No. 030 / CAB / MIN-ENRH / 2017 of 21 April 2017
Decree No. 18-052 of 24 December 2018 setting out the conditions and the procedure for the certification of service providers in the energy sector
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The“ Eligible clients” status allows a consumer whose installed capacity is greater than 1 MW or whose annual consumption in the previous year was greater than 5 GW / hour, for non-residential use, to buy electricity from their chosen provider, on a freely negotiated basis.
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