Rwanda has announced plans to increase access to electricity from the current 22 percent to 70 percent of the population, or 1.7 million households, within the next three years.
The post-Genocide country’s generation capacity will increase from the current 153 megawatts (MW) to 563MW by 2017 if the ongoing developments in the hydropower and alternative energy sources in the country completed on time.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, James Musoni, Rwanda minister of infrastructure said that the government has set an ambitious energy production target to see 563 megawatts (MW) of energy realized in order to reduce the country’s power deficit.
“Our goal is to boost connections to the national grid in rural areas to more than 60 percent by 2017 and this will be achieved considering the fact that, Rwanda has embarked on the development of various energy sources,” he noted.
Musoni stated that the country will add 70MW on the grid this year and this is expected to come from diverse sources, including Kivuwatt that is expected to generate 25 MW by May, Gishoma Peat Power Plant that will generate 15 MW by July and additional 30 MW to be imported from Kenya.
For Rwanda, like any other country in the region, lack of access to adequate power remains an obstacle to achieving development targets.
According to the ministry of infrastructure by June, accessibility will be standing at 23 percent, an equivalent of about 500,000 households.
In February this year, the small Central African nation unveiled 23.7 million U.S. dollars solar power plant the first of its kind in the region and the third in Africa after the ones in South Africa and Mauritius. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
