Search results

The World Bank has approved $125m in funding for the Third Energy Sector Development Policy Operation (DPO). The loan is the third and final part of a $375m programme aimed at supporting the energy sector objectives in Rwanda’s National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), which aims to lay the foundations for achieving upper-middle-income country status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050. The first DPO was approved in December 2017.

The Netherlands’ NOTS Solar Lamps and the Rwandan government on 4 July announced an agreement for NOTS to build a $70m solar home system (SHS) manufacturing facility in the country. Rwanda’s cabinet approved the agreement in June. The plant will manufacture NOTS’ Multimax system, which includes three lamps and phone and radio chargers and is paid for in 100 weekly instalments of $0.60.

Symbion Power and San Francisco-based Natel Energy have launched a new hydropower-based mini-grid company called MyHydro which aims to install hydropower-based mini-grids at low cost but on a large scale. MyHydro will use low-head turbine technology provided by Natel which the company claims are “the most fish-safe turbines in the world” and which require a water drop of only 2-10 metres. MyHydro aims to deploy a minimum of 150 installations with associated mini-grid infrastructure in Africa by 2025, serving around 1.5m people.

The Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (Nelsap) is inviting expressions of interest from consultants by 20 June to act as owner’s engineer to oversee the completion of the 80MW Rusumo Falls hydroelectric project. The project, on the Kagera River at the border of Rwanda and Tanzania, is under construction and is expected to be completed by July 2021. Owner’s engineer services are currently being carried out by a joint venture of Canada’s AECOM and France’s Artelia, whose contract expires in October 2019.

The government is considering various options to increase the capital of Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in order to finance planned infrastructure development. Corporate communications adviser Prosper Mubera Birori told African Energy one possibility was to bring in a strategic investor who would acquire an equity stake in the group as a whole, or in REG’s Energy Utility Corporation Limited (EUCL) subsidiary, which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the existing generation plants, the transmission and distribution network, and selling electricity to end-users.

Rwanda is relying on up to five key projects to meet its target of 556MW generation capacity by 2024. In an interview with African Energy, Rwanda Energy Group chief executive Ron Weiss said the new target was in line with government plans to increase electricity access to 100% by 2024. As of February 2019, 51% of households had access to power (37% of households are connected to the grid, while 14% are connected to off-grid systems).

The government signed an agreement on 1 February with Gasmeth Energy Ltd to extract and process methane gas from Lake Kivu for a compressed natural gas (CNG) project.Gasmeth plans to finance, construct and maintain a gas extraction, processing and compression project including a gas extraction plant on Lake Kivu. The company will extract and separate methane gas from the lake’s water and transport it to an onshore plant for processing.

Off-grid solar company BBOXX announced on 13 January that Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), part of Old Mutual Alternative Investments, has agreed an investment of $31m to acquire a minority stake in BBOXX’s operating companies in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Rwanda. The investment was made by AIIM’s African Infrastructure Investment Fund 3 and will allow the BBOXX companies to install 2m solar systems by 2022. AIIM chief executive Jurie Swart said the deal reflected the maturity of the off-grid sector as well as BBOXX’s ambition.

Infrastructure minister Claver Gatete and Rosatom director-general Aleksey Likhachev signed an intergovernmental agreement in Moscow on 5 December on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. Rosatom said the agreement established a legal basis for interaction in a wide range of areas, including a project for the construction of a centre for nuclear science and technology and a nuclear power plant in Rwanda.

KenolKobil announced an agreement with Delta Petroleum on 7 November to buy 23 service stations in Uganda and ten in Rwanda. On conclusion of the transaction, KenolKobil’s total retail network will rise to 433 stations, of which 200 are in Kenya. Kobil Uganda’s retail outlets will increase to 56 stations while Kobil Rwanda will have 61 stations under its control. The value of the transactions was not disclosed.

Energie des Grands Lacs (EGL), the energy agency of the three-nation Great Lakes Economic Community (CEPGL), invites prequalification applications by 26 November to support the development of the Ruzizi III hydropower plant on the Ruzizi River, which forms the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. The 147MW run-of-river project will be financed, built and operated by a consortium in a public-private partnership under a 25-year concession.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a loan of $266m for the second phase of Rwanda’s Scaling Up Electricity Access Programme, which aims to expand access and improve supply reliability. Rwanda received $46m in 2013 for the first phase of the programme, which is 90% complete and ahead of schedule, the AfDB said.The new facility is split into a $192m AfDB loan and a credit of $74m from the African Development Fund covering the three fiscal years to 2021-22.

Clarke Energy announced on 28 August that it has been selected as preferred supplier for Symbion Power’s two projects to use methane gas from Lake Kivu to generate power. If a contract is finalised, Clarke Energy will supply 25 3MW General Electric J620 Jenbacher gas engines to Kivu56 and Kibuye Power 1 (KP1), which are expected to begin construction this year. Biogas from the lake contains around 20% methane, which is too low for a Jenbacher engine.

UK-based off-grid utility BBOXX announced on 20 August that it has launched a pilot to provide the internet to customers in Rwanda. The company is using Wi-Fi hotspots established through a joint venture with Axiom Networks. Ten fixed hotspots have been established, powered using BBOXX solar systems, which are able to deliver internet in rural areas at 10-20Mbps.

The Ministry of Infrastructure on 22 June signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian state nuclear power company Rosatom setting out the legal basis for cooperation in nuclear energy. According to Rosatom, the document will allow cooperation in a wide range of areas, including the development of nuclear infrastructure in Rwanda and awareness campaigns. Joint working groups will identify specific projects. Preparation of a framework intergovernmental agreement between the two countries is expected to be the next step, Rosatom said.