MARGE continues to support Enabel in the DRC on several energy access projects. The MARGE-Greenplug Engineering consortium has most notably been commissioned to draw up a Master Plan for the development of grid electricity in the city of Lubumbashi. The latter is experiencing difficulties in accessing electricity due to an unplanned population explosion coupled with a lack of investment in the maintenance of existing infrastructure and its upgrading. The Master Plan should make it possible to provide access to reliable electricity by 2040 by combining a reinforcement of the existing distribution grid with production and distribution concessions for private players other than SNEL.
MARGE also drew up the technical specifications for the tender documents to select photovoltaic electricity production companies to supply reliable electricity to hospital laboratories supported by the THA+ project in three provinces of the DRC. These laboratories are specifically equipped to detect parasites of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), better known as sleeping sickness, and to enable rapid and effective treatment of this disease.