The Western Power Corridor (Westcor) was a project to construct and supply energy from two hydroelectric power plants to the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Originally, the hydro power was to be supplied form the

INGA III The Inga Dams are two hydroelectric dams connected to one of the largest waterfalls in the world, Inga Falls. They are located in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo and 140 miles southwest of Kinshasa. Inga Falls on the Congo ...

project. Later Inga III was supposed to be replaced by

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Cuanza River The Kwanza River, also known as the Coanza, the Quanza, and the Cuanza, is one of the longest rivers in Angola. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean just south of the national capital Luanda. Geography The river is navigable for about from its ...

and Cunene River projects or by the new project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

History

An inter-governmental memorandum on the Westcor was signed on 22 October 2004 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa, followed by the shareholders' agreement signed by the national electricity companies. The pre-feasibility study was completed in 2005. In 2009, Democratic Republic of the Congo decided to develop the INGA III project by using private investments and the project was redesigned to involve Cuanza River and Cunene River projects in Angola. In 2010 the Democratic Republic of Congo indicated it will propose a new project involving also

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

, and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Ultimately the project was aborted by shareholders when unforeseen changes were proposed to the founding agreements.

Technical description

The total length of Westcor will be over and the capacity will be . INGA III will be connected with the Capanda Power Station in Angola via two 400-kilovolt (kV)

high voltage High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and conductors that carry high voltage warrant spec ...

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

(HVAC) lines. INGA III will be also connected with

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

via another 400 kV HVAC line. From Angola, two multi-terminal

high-voltage direct current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...

systems will run to Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The system will consist of five converter stations: Kuanza in Angola, Auas in Namibia, Goborone in Botswana, and Omega and Pegasus in South Africa. The expected cost of the project is about

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

5 billion.

Project company

The Westcor company was registered and incorporated in Botswana in 2003. The shareholders are

Empresa Nacional de Electricidade de Angola Empresa Nacional de Electricidade de Angola (E.N.E.) was a state-owned electricity company of Angola. The company was closed in 2014 per presidential decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the pres ...

, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), the

Société nationale d'électricité (SNEL) Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

of the DRC, Eskom of South Africa and

NamPower Namibia Power Corporation, commonly known as NamPower, is the national electric power utility company of Namibia. The company is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the country. Its activities are lice ...

of Namibia. CEO of the company was Pat Naidoo.

References

External links

{{Portal, Energy
Project presentation at Namibia Power official website
(PPT) HVDC transmission lines Electric power infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Electric power infrastructure in Angola Energy in Namibia Electric power infrastructure in Botswana Electric power infrastructure in South Africa Proposed electric power infrastructure in Africa Proposed electric power transmission systems