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Zambia’s electricity grid is to be connected to the copper mining heartland of the Democratic Republic of Congo through a new high voltage transmission line, a $300 million project backed by Trafigura Group and a group of partners.
The project is known as KKIP and will run from Kalumbila in Zambia to Kolwezi in Congo. Equity will come from the Strategic Investment Fund of the DRC, the electricity trader EnPower, and Gridworks Development Partners LLP, which is part of British International Investment Plc, according to a joint statement. Trafigura has agreed to arrange a “significant share” of the debt financing, which means it will help raise much of the borrowed money the build requires.
The line will stretch 200 kilometres, or 124 miles, and will allow Congo’s mining and industrial centres in Katanga to import up to 700 megawatts of electricity. It will also strengthen Congo’s connection to the Southern African Power Pool, a regional body that allows countries to trade electricity across borders. The companies said the design leaves room to raise capacity beyond one gigawatt, which is 1,000 megawatts.
The line will also connect to a substation on the property of First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Sentinel mine in Kalumbila. Zambia’s regulator approved the project in 2025. The project reflects a wider push across Africa to move surplus power to places that lack reliable electricity, particularly mining areas that still rely largely on diesel generators. These schemes have drawn trading houses, which see openings both in selling electricity and in gaining access to critical minerals.
Gridworks’ Chief Executive Officer, Chris Flavin said in the statement that both countries stand to gain. “Zambia and the DRC both stand to benefit from closer interconnection, and this project will give the copperbelt access to reliable, competitively priced power and lay the foundation for further cross-border transmission investment,” said Flavin.
He added that the line is not only for miners. “While the project is anchored by mining offtake, there is capacity on the line to serve the wider population,” noted Flavin. In practical terms, mining companies are the anchor buyers of the power but the line has room to supply ordinary households and businesses as well.
