Hydro power plant in Bas-Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Approximate location -4.7779, 14.9059.
HydroBas-CongoDemocratic Republic of the Congo
Zongo 1 is a 75 MW hydro power plant in Bas-Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is operated by Societe Nationale D'elec. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 75k homes (estimated). It ranks #7 of 15 Democratic Republic of the Congo power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1945, it is around 81 years old — an older, legacy facility. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 84.2% of Democratic Republic of the Congo's electricity; the national grid averages 28 gCO₂/kWh (100.0% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000010.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000601486); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 75 MW, Zongo 1 is around the median hydro plant in Democratic Republic of the Congo (75 MW). Hydropower converts the energy of falling or flowing water into electricity; output depends on rainfall and reservoir level, and large dams also provide grid balancing and storage.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Societe Nationale D'elec.
This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 4.8°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
This site has effectively no heating season (tropical/equatorial climate), so winter heat loss is not the driver here. The thermal concern shifts to year-round process heat and humidity/heat-driven corrosion of hot equipment.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #7 largest hydro power plant of 13 in Democratic Republic of the Congo by capacity.
Democratic Republic of the Congo has 13 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 2,668 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -4.7779, 14.9059 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Zongo 1 is a 75 MW source-record hydro power plant in Bas-Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, commissioned in 1945.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 75,085 homes (estimated).
Zongo 1 is operated by Societe Nationale D'elec.
