DHYBRID outlines role at DRC mine site

Germany’s DHYBRID Power Systems GmbH has reported on its work supplying the battery energy and storage system (BESS) and control platform for the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

It marks Africa’s first solar baseload plant, delivering 30 MW of power around the clock, and has already saved the mine site US$11mn during the first month of operations.

The Kamoa-Kakula copper project is owned and operated by Ivanhoe Mines, which also gave an update on the project in its Q3 results recently (Kamoa-Kakula on-site power costs tumble).

Sixteen months after a power purchase agreement was signed, DHYBRID’s Universal Power Platform (UPP) coordinates 233 MWp of solar and a 526 MWh battery system at the complex into a guaranteed 30 MW of baseload energy, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with peaks of 55 MW.

In its first month of operation, the plant displaced around 4 million litres of diesel, DHYBRID noted in a statement.

DHYBRID engineered the battery system and provides the control platform for the facility that CrossBoundary Energy developed, owns and operates at the site, near Kolwezi.

The UPP is the central control layer for the entire plant, according to the company: 513 photovoltaic inverters, 90 battery inverters, 180 battery containers, more than 200 power quality meters, protection relays, meteorological sensors, UPS and HVAC units, and more than 400 managed network switches, over 1,300 devices in total.

“For the operator, the power output of the plant is controlled by one button: ask for 30 MW and you get 30 MW, ask for 50 MW and you get 50 MW of stable output,” said Tobias Reiner, CTO and managing director of DHYBRID Power Systems GmbH.

“Our forecasting algorithm tells the operator 24 hours ahead what the plant can deliver, and the UPP holds that setpoint by coordinating more than 1,300 devices in real time to make sure intermittent solar power becomes renewable, reliable baseload.”

Four OEMs, one plant

The facility combines 357,048 Aiko solar modules, Sungrow photovoltaic inverters and medium-voltage stations, Risen SYL battery containers and EPC Power power conversion systems.

None of the four makes the control layer. DHYBRID’s platform is manufacturer-independent by design, which let CrossBoundary Energy choose each component on its merits and still operate the result as a single power plant.

The same platform runs DHYBRID systems at more than 100 sites in around 30 countries, from Maldivian atolls and critical infrastructure in Europe to the Rio Tinto QMM mine in Madagascar and mulitple Nigerian Breweries projects.

DHYBRID also customised the 180 battery containers for the project’s logistics, including road-weight limits on the 3,080 km route from Durban port to Kolwezi.

Each unit was factory-tested in China before shipping and commissioned on site by engineers.

The plant exported its first electricity in June 2026, 13 months after site access, and reached commercial operation on 12 August.

CrossBoundary Energy expects the facility to produce around 300,000 MWh a year and avoid roughly 78,750 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Planned expansion work

Separately, DHYBRID has been awarded the contract to expand the Kamoa-Kakula battery system by a further 35 MWh to an installed capacity of 561 MWh, with commercial operation targeted for January 2027.

The additional capacity will be integrated into the existing control layer without changes to the plant’s operating interface.

Kamoa-Kakula plans to further raise its on-site solar baseload capacity to 120 MW within 18 months.

Founded in 2013, DHYBRID is headquartered in Gauting near Munich and has a subsidiary in Midrand, South Africa.