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The European Union intends to support The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) mission in Cabo Delgado with an amount equivalent to the €15m ($15m) that the European Council recently committed to the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (Samim), EU high representative Josep Borrell said in Maputo on 8 September.

A confidential United Nations Group of Experts report, leaked on 4 August, included apparent evidence that the Rwandan military had been operating in Democratic Republic of Congo since last November, supporting the re-emergence of the Tutsi-led M23 militia.

The 56MW Lake Kivu methane-to-power project has once again been delayed – this time due to equipment failure.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced on 26 April that it had approved two loans worth a combined $180m to finance the Transmission System Reinforcement and Last Mile Connectivity project in Rwanda. The AfDB is providing $140m from its sovereign window and $40m from the Africa Growing Together Fund. It had previously approved an $84.2m concessional loan from the African Development Fund in May 2021.

Tanzania’s Auditor General has criticised the procurement of a major contractor at the Rusumo Falls, blaming the World Bank Group for the deviation.

Off-grid energy company Bboxx is launching a cheaper product range to target poorer customers, amid a fall in incomes across Africa for the first time in a decade and supply chain issues with China.

A 22 March agreement between the government and a joint venture called Koko Rwanda – majority owned by Koko Networks alongside consulting company and co-developer Dalberg – will see Rwanda waive VAT and import duties on equipment and ethanol while Koko Rwanda invests $25m developing a nationwide bioethanol cooking fuel network.

Developers of small hydropower (SHP) projects in East Africa are facing greater challenges in raising finance for their schemes, as a result of weak national grids and a shift away from take-or-pay arrangements by offtakers, according to one industry figure.

Mozambique was not considered part of President Paul Kagame’s strategic orbit, and the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) deployment to Cabo Delgado has aroused considerable interest and controversy in eastern and southern Africa. The straight-line distance from Kigali to Palma is some 1,500km, which poses logistical challenges for sustaining a large deployment, particularly for a country of Rwanda’s limited means. This has led analysts to query who is providing the funding.

Covid-19-related restrictions have delayed commissioning of the 56MW Shema Power Lake Kivu methane-to-power plant (previously known as Kivu56), project director Tony de la Motte told African Energy.

A power purchase agreement for the 4.22MW hydroelectric power independent power project on the Bihongora River in Rubavu District, Western Province is expected to be signed in September, Demi Ivey of developer East African Power (EAP) told African Energy. 

When most African governments struggle to fund even the most essential projects, costly new technologies may seem a luxury. But rethinking how they can be applied to energy networks can be a valuable exercise for policy-makers and investors: ‘disruptive technology’ can have far-reaching benefits, or prove a red herring for cash-strapped economies.

Construction started on the Nyabarongo II hydropower plant at end-April, according to Energy Development Corporation Ltd (EDCL) executive Theoneste Higaniro. The plant, being built for EDCL – a subsidiary of the government’s Rwanda Energy Group (REG) – by China’s Sinohydro, will comprise three 14.5MW units due online in September 2025, November 2025, and January 2026 respectively.

The 56MW Kivu56 methane-to-power plant is expected to achieve commercial operations in March 2022, Shema Power Lake Kivu project director Tony de la Motte told African Energy on 4 May. The project – which has also been known as Cape Busororo Methane and Shema Power Lake Kivu Methane – will comprise four barges supplying methane to 14MW turbines. Preliminary work began in August 2018.

The World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has issued guarantees worth up to $37.1m to African Infrastructure Investment Managers’ (AIIM) African Infrastructure Investment Fund 3. It will cover AIIM’s investment in solar home system (SHS) company Bboxx’s operations in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, and Rwanda for up to ten years.