The Western Power Corridor (Westcor) chief executive Dr Pat Naidoo on Friday said that the joint-venture company would look at developing smaller projects in Angola and Namibia, as it planned to withdraw from the Inga 3 hydropower project on the Congo river.

Speaking at an event hosted by the South African Institute for Electrical Engineers, Naidoo said that one of Westcor’s members, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR), had decided to change its project mandate, in flight.

Westcor was established in 2003 as national power producers from the DRC, South Africa, Angola, Botswana and Namibia decided to explore renewable energy options in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The Inga project was initially identified as the most significant hydropower project in Africa.

Naidoo noted that of the 5 000 MW which would have initially been provided by the Inga 3 project, about 3 000 MW would have gone to South Africa, 1 000 MW to the DRC and the remaining 1 000 MW would have been shared by the other project shareholders.

However, he said that the DRC had now decided to develop the project on its own. “The DRC government has said to us that they would like to take on the development of the Inga 3 on their own in order to cater for the supplies of principally, BHP Billiton’s energy demand for its proposed smelter. So they would develop the power station themselves, which is very unlikely.”

Although no official announcement has been made by the DRC, Naidoo said that it was clear from meetings with shareholders and affected parties that it was meeting with resistance in the DRC. “We are under no illusions.”

Naidoo stated that as Westcor had no recourse to prevent the DRC from developing the project on its own, the matter would now be handed over to the SADC. He stated that an argument for the joint development of the Inga 3 project would be presented to the SADC at its meeting in August, after which the project would hopefully be reinstated.

“But if we cannot, then we will move on and do other schemes,” Naidoo said.

Westcor has also requested a new mandate from its shareholders in which it would request permission from the SADC to approach Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia for concessions to explore the development of potential sites along the Zambezi and Intombi rivers in Southern Africa.

“These river systems are much more closer to us. We left them behind at the time [of the Inga development] because of the Zimbabwe issue, but we believe that Zimbabwe has made some progress and we can return to the Zambezi,” Naidoo said.

Westcor would also look to develop the 6 000 MW Cuanza river hydropower project, in Angola, and the 1 600 MW lower Kunene river hydropower project, in Namibia.

However, Naidoo warned that all remaining African hydropower projects were relatively small, making them uneconomical. “We will investigate the other small ones, but you will find that in the economics of things, they do not have the economics of sale to make the push.”

As Westcor only had a renewable mandate, it would not be able to participate in any nuclear or thermal coal projects, once all renewable energy resources have been investigated.

He noted that if the DRC did not come to the party regarding the Inga 3 project, and if other renewable projects were not identified before March 31, 2010, Westcor would disband.

“Our mandate is March 31 next year. If we are not moving by then, then we will close operations. We can’t incur costs because we are dealing with public money.”