WattIBuild (@sd.mael)

🇨🇩 🇿🇲 THE $300M POWER LINE BEHIND A $1B-A-YEAR SAVINGS CLAIM The DRC produced about 75% of the world's cobalt and 13% of mined copper in 2024. But its Copperbelt faces a power deficit exceeding 1 GW, with costly diesel filling part of the gap. A proposed new interconnector could change that. ⚡ ≈200 km ⚡ 330 kV ⚡ 700 MW thermal capacity ⚡ Up to 550 MW of imports into the DRC ⚡ Expandable beyond 1 GW The Kalumbila–Kolwezi Interconnector would connect Congo's mining heartland more strongly to the Southern African Power Pool. Estimated construction cost: ≈$300M Trafigura says industry studies suggest miners could save about: $1B every year by replacing expensive diesel power with imported electricity. That's more than 3× the project's construction cost in estimated annual system savings, although the $1B is a Trafigura estimate, not a guaranteed return to the project. Why does this matter beyond Congo? Copper and cobalt are inputs into grids, batteries and electrification. But producing those minerals also requires reliable electricity. WATT MATTERS: Mineral security starts with power security. The geology is already there. The next bottleneck is infrastructure. #WattMatters #DRC #Zambia #Copper #Cobalt #CriticalMinerals #EnergyInfrastructure #Electricity #Mining #AfricaEnergy #SAPP

Japan and South Korea are developing cooperation on emergency supplies of LNG, crude oil and petroleum products. It sounds contradictory. It isn't. 🧵 #WattMattersForPeople #EnergySecurity #Japan #SouthKorea #LNG #Oil #EnergyInfrastructure #EnergyEconomics #SupplyChains #AfricaEnergy #EnergyResilience

Guyana has gas. But where should it go? Exxon estimates ~2 Bcf/day may be needed for oilfield reinjection. Its 300-MW Gas-to-Energy project needs only ~50 MMcf/day, about 40× less. Meanwhile a planned 6-Mtpa LNG project could shrink to 3 Mtpa. Oil, LNG or domestic power? The real question is not how much gas Guyana has, but where each molecule creates the most long-term. #WattMatters #Guyana #EnergySecurity #NaturalGas #LNG #OilAndGas #EnergyInfrastructure #Industrialisation #EnergyEconomics #GasToPower #AfricaEnergy

🇧🇷 Brazil's draft PDE 2036 projects annual power generation rising 37%: 829→1,133 TWh. To manage more wind + solar, it adds 7.2 GW batteries, 2 GW pumped hydro, 4 GW demand response + 31,900 km transmission. Watt Matters: flexibility is infrastructure. #WattMatters #BrazilEnergy #Electricity #EnergyInfrastructure #EnergySecurity #PowerGrid #EnergyStorage #RenewableEnergy #SouthAfrica

🇪🇺 ENERGY SECURITY STARTS BEFORE THE POWER PLANT Europe has selected 46 new strategic raw-material projects across 16 countries. They cover mining, processing and recycling—and require around €21.1B of investment. By 2030, the EU wants capacity equal to: 10% of demand from EU extraction 40% from EU processing 25% from recycling And no more than 65% of a strategic material from one third country. Why? Because the technologies behind electrification still depend on concentrated supply chains. China currently supplies 100% of the EU's heavy rare earths. Africa shows why the middle of the chain matters too: 🇨🇩 The DRC produced about 73% of the world's mined cobalt in 2025—but China remains the dominant cobalt refiner. Having the mineral is not the same as controlling the value chain. Europe's energy transition therefore starts well before the battery, wind turbine or grid. Watt Matters takeaway: Replacing imported fuels does not automatically remove strategic dependence. It can move that dependence upstream—to minerals, processing and manufacturing. #WattMatters #CriticalMinerals #EnergySecurity #EnergyInfrastructure #EnergyPolicy #EuropeanUnion #EnergyTransition #RareEarths #Lithium #Cobalt #BatterySupplyChain #StrategicAutonomy #Mining #Recycling

🇳🇬 215 TCF OF GAS ISN'T ENOUGH IF IT CAN'T REACH A CUSTOMER. Nigeria's gas production is now around 7.5 Bcf/day. Domestic delivery has crossed 2 Bcf/day. The next piece is connectivity. OB3 links the eastern and western gas networks. AKK extends that network north toward Abuja, Kaduna and Kano. OB3 alone can transport 2 Bcf/day—roughly equal to Nigeria's entire current daily domestic gas delivery. But capacity is not supply. The expected near-term addition from OB3 is >500 MMscf/day, roughly 25% of current domestic delivery. That distinction matters. WATT MATTERS: The question is no longer only how much gas Nigeria has. It's how much can reliably reach power plants, factories and other productive users. #WattMatters #Nigeria #NaturalGas #EnergyInfrastructure #AKK #OB3 #GasInfrastructure #EnergySecurity #AfricanEnergy #EnergyInvestment

🇧🇷 Brazil may strip Enel of São Paulo's electricity concession after repeated storm-related failures. But the policy question is bigger than Enel: When should an extreme-weather outage become a regulatory failure? Resilience means measuring not only whether the grid fails, but how well it was prepared and how quickly it recovers. #WattMattersForPeople #Brazil #SãoPaulo #Enel #ElectricityGrid #EnergySecurity #GridResilience #EnergyInfrastructure #EnergyEconomics #ClimateResilience

Google isn’t just buying electricity. Its long-term demand is helping unlock more of it. A 20-year deal with Constellation supports 890 MW of new nuclear capacity + $4.3B in investment. For scale: 890 MW ≈ 96% of one Koeberg reactor in South Africa. The AI race is becoming an infrastructure-finance story. #WattMatters #EnergyInfrastructure #NuclearEnergy #Google #AI #DataCenters #EnergySecurity #Electricity #PJM #EnergyEconomics #Koeberg #AfricaEnergy

#energy #germany #gas #lng

They say “Not All Heroes Wear Capes”. That could be you. Sign-up and join our Superhero Campaign and be part of a movement that transforms lives. Together, we can empower children to dream big and achieve greatness. Sign-up today: www.slum2school.org/beoursuperhero #BeOurSuperhero #Slum2School #Africa @Be Our Superhero