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Symbion Power expects to begin preliminary work at its 50MW methane-fired power project on Lake Kivu, Rwanda, in August 2018, the company told African Energy. A permanent management team is in place for the project and is in the final stages of negotiating with engineering and construction contractors. Major construction work is expected to be under way by year-end.

Rusumo Power Company Limited (RPCL) invites expressions of interest by 14 May from consulting firms to assist with the development of a business plan. The 80MW Rusumo Falls run-of-river project, which is being built on the Kagera River along Rwanda’s border with Tanzania, just downstream of the tri-point where the two countries share a border with Burundi, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020. Output is to be shared equally between the three neighbours.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) have announced that $25m in concessional loans from ADFD have been earmarked for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Mauritius and Rwanda. The projects are being financed through the Irena/ADFD project facility, which helps developing countries access low-cost capital for renewable energy projects. The loans cover up to 50% of project costs, leveraging additional funding from other sources.

London headquartered off-grid solar company BBOXX announced on 23 October that it has agreed a $5m loan facility with Essential Capital Consortium, a $50m social enterprise fund managed by Deutsche Asset Management that closed in March 2015. The loan will be used to expand the company’s operations in Rwanda. The loan facility will be managed by Atlas Mara’s Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR), which has a relationship with BBOXX.

Symbion Energy and Highland Group Holdings Ltd (HGHL) signed an agreement on 21 September under which HGHL will invest $100m in Symbion’s $370m of projects to generate a total of 106MW from methane gas dissolved in Lake Kivu. This will be the first major investment in Africa for HGHL, which has interests in wind power and owns the House of Fraser department store group.

The 2.7MW Rwaza run-of-river hydropower plant being built by responsAbility Renewable Energy Holding (rAREH) will be ready for operation by end-2018, German development bank KfW said on 10 July. Located along the River Mukungwa, in northern Rwanda’s Musanze district, the $8m unit has been in planning since 2013, but was delayed through lack of funds. rAREH became involved in 2014, working with local developer DC Hydropower (which is supported by the US Power Africa Initiative) and Denmark’s Frontier Investment Management via its DI Frontier Market Energy and Carbon Fund.

Infrastructure minister James Musoni, US ambassador Erica Barks-Ruggles and German ambassador Peter Woeste have launched the construction of the 2.6MW Rwaza I hydropower plant in Musanze district, Northern Province. The $12m project is funded by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and by Germany’s KfW. “The power plant we are launching today might be small in size, but we have no doubt that even the 2.6MW to be produced at Rwaza-Muko micro-hydropower plant will greatly contribute to our bold vision.

Tunisia’s Steg International Services has selected Portugal’s Efacec to build three new 200kV substations to distribute power to rural areas from the HQ Power peat plant. Efacec will carry out the engineering, supply, supervision and commissioning of three new substations on a turnkey basis. The contract is worth €10.5m ($11.5m) and work must be completed within 18 months.The 80MW HQ plant in Gisagara District is being developed by Turkey’s Hakan Mining and Electricity Generation Industry and Trade and Quantum Power.

Construction of the 80MW Rusumo Falls hydroelectric project in Rwanda is under way following an official groundbreaking ceremony held on 30 March. The run-of-river project on the Kagera River along Rwanda’s border with Tanzania, just downstream of the tripoint where the two countries share a common border with Burundi, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020, with output to be shared equally between the countries.

Lake Kivu methane specialist Michel Halbwachs has taken on a new methane to power project in Democratic Republic of Congo, with a new company, Limnological Engineering. Halbwachs, whose Rwandan project collapsed following an intellectual property dispute between his former company, Data Environnement, and Rwanda Investment Group, has been recruited by a consortium that was awarded a block on the Congolese side of Lake Kivu last year. The consortium is made up of Tunisia’s Engineering Procurement and Project Management (EPPM), Swede Energy DRC and Kenya’s Transcentury Ltd.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announced financial close for a $350m deal to finance an 80MW peat-to-power project in Gisagara District being developed by Turkey’s Hakan Mining and Electricity Generation Industry and Trade and Quantum Power. The plant is expected to be completed within three years. Themis Infra is the project development manager.

The 15MW Gishoma peat plant in Rusizi District has been successfully tested and is ready to be connected to the grid by early March, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure. The plant began supplying power to the Cimerwa cement plant at Bugarama last year (AE 327/10).“The testing and commissioning were done and we have been asked to fix some few issues, we are working on it and ultimate time will be end of February or beginning of March,” the New Times daily quoted marketing manager Frank Zhang of Chinese developer RUNH Power Corporation as saying.

Engen has introduced MTN Mobile Money payments at its ten service stations in Kigali. Customers can purchase fuel, lubricants and other goods via the platform, and the service will be rolled out to up-country service stations in early 2017. Engen started operations in Rwanda in November 2008 after acquiring the assets of Total. It now has 21 service stations in the country.

A financing agreement worth $350m has been signed for an 80MW peat-fired power plant in Kabumbwe, Gisagara district. The deal was announced by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which is providing a loan of $75m in addition to arranging $225m of senior debt from a consortium including the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank), the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Development Bank of Rwanda, and the Export-Import Bank of India. AFC is also underwriting $35m and Finnish development agency Finnfund is lead arranger for the junior debt and is providing $10m of mezzanine debt.

Construction of the 80MW Rusumo Falls hydropower project is set to begin early next year following the signing of contracts in early November for the civil works and supply of hydroelectrical and electromechanical equipment. The run-of-river project is to be built on the Kagera River, along Rwanda’s border with Tanzania, just downstream of the tripoint where the two countries share a common border with Burundi. It is scheduled to be commissioned in 2019. The contracts, with a combined value of $121.6m, were signed by the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme on behalf of Rusumo Power Company Limited, the future tri-national owner-operator of the plant.