Kenyan Tycoon To Set Up Battery Plant In Congo

Written By Mary Mumbua  📝

Julius Mwale, a Kenyan tycoon, has teamed up with an American company to create a battery plant to power smart towns in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mr Mwale is one of the project’s primary partners in the battery facility being built by KE International, a US engineering and infrastructure corporation.

The plant will manufacture electric power storage batteries to power smart cities—which use technology to provide services and solve city problems– in Africa.

“We are investing in building a 16-Gigawatt (16 terawatts) battery manufacturing plant in the DRC, to help power our smart cities in Kenya and the rest of Africa,” said Mr Mwale in a statement.

Mr Mwale is the driving force behind the Mwale City project, which aims to turn Lunza, a rural village in Kakamega County, into a ‘Silicon Valley’ worth at least Sh200 billion.

The plant’s value, size, and construction dates were not disclosed.

Mr Mwale claimed he signed funding agreements with various bankers and partners for the DRC project at a recent worldwide conference.

“The new partnerships will enable us to expand Mwale Medical tourism city model across Africa, where we have secured 18 locations for smart cities expansion,” he said.

Mwale said KE International which oversaw the construction of Mwale City in Kenya will be in charge of completing the battery power plant in DRC.

The plant is being built next to Cobalt and Nickel mines belonging to the tycoon in DRC, he added.

“This is expected to solve the supply chain issues, in battery supplies in the world. The batteries will also be used to power electric vehicles, bicycles, and for residential and commercial purposes,” said Mwale.

The electric battery market is estimated to be worth $45 trillion between now and 2050. Electric batteries were the 38th most traded product in 2020 at $67 billion according to OEC, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s data analysis firm.

Mwale’s smart cities could make him a key player in the battery storage market due to the ownership of power plants like one at Mwale City.

Expanding that to Electric vehicle batteries, residential and commercial storage will guarantee the sustainability of smart cities worldwide, analysts have said.

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