Hydroelectric · DRC

Greentech Energy S.A.

Budana Power Station · River Shari · Bunia, DRC
5.5 MW
Operational capacity
98%
Avg uptime · both turbines
4,700+
Smart meters installed
The Project

Bunia's sole grid provider —
restored from near-dormancy

The Budana hydro station sits on the River Shari above Bunia, a city of over a million people in Ituri Province. The station's civil infrastructure — dam, penstocks, powerhouse — was built decades ago but had fallen into serious disrepair. When VerdAfrique arrived in 2024, one Francis turbine was technically operational but generating less than 1MW and in a poor state; the grid serving the city had deteriorated to the point where it was largely non-functional beyond the immediate vicinity of the station.

Greentech Energy S.A. holds the exclusive concession to refurbish, operate and sell power from the site, and is the only entity supplying electricity to Bunia's grid. Our approach has been capital efficiency from the outset: restoring proven assets rather than building new, paired with the metering and billing infrastructure needed to collect revenue reliably.

Budana penstock and water channel Greentech Energy engineer inspecting generator controls
Economic Impact

A city that ran on diesel.
Now it runs on the grid.

Before our arrival, Bunia's shops, hospitals and homes depended on expensive, polluting diesel generators — an unaffordable luxury for most. Clean grid power has changed that: doctors run diagnostic equipment, supermarkets keep refrigerated stock, streetlights run through the night, and commerce extends beyond dark. The cost of electricity has fallen to a fraction of what diesel charged.

Greentech engineer working on Bunia power infrastructure Doctor at work in Bunia Supermarket with refrigerated stock in Bunia Greentech engineering team Bunia market scene Bunia street scene
The Machines

Two Francis turbines,
synchronised September 2025.

Both Francis turbines at Budana were brought to full operational condition by our engineering team working on site in Bunia — without nearby workshops, supply chains, or the kind of logistical infrastructure that would be taken for granted in other markets. The first turbine, already installed but barely generating on our arrival, was overhauled and brought to its rated output of 2.75MW. The second underwent full refurbishment in parallel. Both machines were synchronised to the grid in September 2025, delivering 5.5MW of continuous baseload power to the city.

A third Francis turbine — rated at 6.5MW — enters refurbishment in June 2026. When online it will more than double the station's output at minimal incremental cost; the civil works and grid connection are already in place.

Type Francis turbine
Units operational 2 × 2.75MW
Synchronised September 2025
Third unit 6.5MW · refurbishment June 2026
The Restoration

Our Mission

Restoring the Budana station meant rebuilding not just the generating machinery but the entire chain of infrastructure needed to get power from the turbine hall to the end customer. Decades of neglect had left cables deteriorated, switchgear degraded, and transformer infrastructure — both at the Budana site and in town — in need of significant work. The grid itself had to be rebuilt.

Turbine hall before restoration
Before · Pre-2024
Turbine hall
One unit barely operational, generating under 1MW
Turbine hall after restoration
After · September 2025
Turbine hall
Both units synchronised, delivering 5.5MW continuously
Cabling before restoration
Before
Distribution cabling
Severely degraded over decades of neglect
Cabling after restoration
After
Distribution cabling
Replaced and reconnected across the Bunia network
Switchyard before restoration
Before
Step-up switchyard · Budana site
Transformer infrastructure non-functional
Switchyard after restoration
After
Step-up switchyard · Budana site
Restored and energised, stepping power to transmission voltage
Grid
Network rebuilt

The distribution network serving Bunia was rebuilt from the ground up — new cables, restored poles and connections across the city, enabling power to reach customers who had gone without reliable electricity for years.

Metering
4,700+ pre-paid meters

Pre-paid smart meters ensure every unit of power delivered generates revenue. Customers purchase credit in advance; there are no collection losses from unpaid bills. This billing model — uncommon across much of the DRC — is central to the project's economics.

Infrastructure
Transformer restoration

Step-up transformer infrastructure at Budana and step-down substations in town were both restored and brought back into service — necessary to transmit power from the generation site to the urban grid at the appropriate voltage.

Development Roadmap

The road to 16MW

Phase 1
Two turbines online
Complete · September 2025

Overhaul of both Francis turbines to their rated 2.75MW output. Full grid rebuild. 4,700+ pre-paid smart meters installed and billing in USD. The station is fully operational and growing its customer base across the Bunia network. Delivered at roughly one-third of equivalent greenfield build cost.

5.5MW Operational output
Complete
Phase 2
Turbine 3 refurbishment
June 2026

The third Francis turbine at 6.5MW enters refurbishment, more than doubling station output. Civil infrastructure and grid connection are already in place, keeping incremental capex low.

12MW+ Total output at completion
Upcoming
Phase 3
Solar hybrid + storage
2027

4.5MW of solar generation and 20MWh of battery storage added to the site, taking peak capacity to 16MW and improving dispatchability across the Bunia grid.

16MW Peak capacity
Planned
The Wider Opportunity

One of hundreds of sites across the DRC

The DRC holds approximately 13% of the world's total hydropower potential — enough, if fully harnessed, to power the entire African continent. Yet fewer than 20 stations are operational today. Since independence, roughly 100 medium-sized hydropower plants have been built across the country; the vast majority are no longer generating. Many retain their essential civil infrastructure intact: dams, intakes, penstocks, powerhouses. The barrier to revival is not geological or technical — it is operational, exactly the gap VerdAfrique is built to close.

98% of the DRC's electricity already comes from hydropower, yet the national electrification rate sits below 20%. The restoration model proven at Budana — refurbishing existing infrastructure at a fraction of new-build cost, with established hydrology and metered billing — is directly replicable across this landscape of dormant assets.

780+
Hydroelectric sites identified across the DRC
~80
Plants built since independence — now non-operational
98%
Of DRC electricity generated by hydropower

To discuss Greentech Energy or request further information

contact@verdafrique.org