Green megalomania renews $80 bln Congo hydro dream

MELBOURNE, June 18 has persuaded President Felix Tshisekedi to let his company lead development of hydroelectric power stations to generate as much as 40 gigawatts, or more than double China’s Three Gorges complex.

Political risk is a big factor, and the project could cost $80 billion, according to estimates several years ago.

Their reservoirs increase evaporation, too, though the Congolese project would exploit a large vertical drop at the Inga Falls and therefore require less storage.

Even assuming Forrest, also known as Twiggy, can pull it off, his plan of converting the electricity to hydrogen to be shipped to Europe and elsewhere raises two additional problems. First, taking energy from Africa, which lacks sufficient electricity, reeks of neo-colonialism.

The European Union reckons it will have 300 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2050, much of it in the North Sea dedicated to making hydrogen, which can be piped into existing infrastructure.

Forrest’s green enthusiasm is to be applauded, even if Fortescue is still developing a carbon-spewing gas-fired power station in Australia.

– The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo on June 15 said it had picked Fortescue Metals to develop the Grand Inga Hydroelectric Projects in the Congo river.

Forrest said Fortescue Future Industries had secured the rights to the project, subject to concluding financial terms. Tshisekedi stated that all parties interested in developing the Grand Inga should deal with Fortescue.

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The People’s Republic is still some way behind the United States, where over half the population has had at least one stick, but it is averaging over 16 million new doses per day.

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