据Paul Burkhardt报道，Trafigura集团及其合作伙伴同意投资3亿美元建设一条高压输电线路，将赞比亚的电网与刚果民主共和国的铜矿带连接起来。
Group and partners have agreed to build a $300 million high-voltage transmission line linking Zambia’s power grid to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s copperbelt.
根据联合声明，刚果民主共和国的战略投资基金、电力交易商EnPower以及英国国际投资公司Gridworks Development Partners LLP计划对该Kalumbila–Kolwezi电力连接项目进行股权投资。Trafigura将负责安排大部分债务融资。
The Strategic Investment Fund of the DRC, electricity trader EnPower and British International Investment Plc’s Gridworks Development Partners LLP plan to invest equity in the Kalumbila–Kolwezi Interconnector Project, according to a joint statement. Trafigura has agreed to arrange a “significant share” of the debt financing.
这条全长200公里（124英里）的电力连接线能够向刚果的卡坦加地区输送高达700兆瓦的电力，并加强其与南部非洲电力联盟的连接，该联盟允许跨境电力交易。项目设计允许未来将输电容量提升至超过1吉瓦。
The 200-kilometer (124-mile) KKIP link will enable imports of up to 700 megawatts to Congo’s mining and industrial centers in Katanga and strengthen its connection to the Southern African Power Pool, a regional body that allows cross-border trading, the companies said. The design allows capacity be increased to over a gigawatt.
此外，该线路还将连接到First Quantum Minerals Ltd.在Kalumbila的Sentinel矿场的变电站。赞比亚监管机构已于去年批准了该项目。
The project will also link to a substation on First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s Sentinel mine property in Kalumbila. Zambia’s regulator approved the project last year.
在非洲国家，尤其是电力主要依赖柴油发电机的矿区，将过剩电力输送到缺电地区的需求日益增长。
Interest in connecting excess power supply to places lacking electricity is growing in African nations, especially in mining areas where power is largely supplied by diesel generators.
此类项目吸引了寻求通过电力销售获取关键矿产资源机会的交易公司。
Projects have attracted trading houses looking for opportunities from selling electricity to gaining access to critical minerals.
Gridworks首席执行官Chris Flavin表示：‘赞比亚和刚果民主共和国都将从更紧密的电力连接中受益，该项目将为铜矿带提供可靠且价格具有竞争力的电力，并为未来的跨境电力投资奠定基础。
“Zambia and the DRC both stand to benefit from closer interconnection, and this project will give the copperbelt access to reliable, competitively priced power and lay the foundation for further cross-border transmission investment,” Gridworks Chief Executive Officer Chris Flavin said in the statement.
虽然该项目以矿产采购为核心，但该线路也有能力服务于更广泛的人群。’
“While the project is anchored by mining offtake, there is capacity on the line to serve the wider population.”