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Following the European Investment Bank’s announcement that it was considering a €70m ($95m) loan for the 31.5MW Jiji and 16.5MW Mulembwe hydropower plants in Burundi, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced a grant worth $22m for the projects from its Fragile States Facility. The project is also being funded by a $100m grant from the World Bank Group’s International Development Association, and funding is expected from the European Union. It represents the largest investment in Burundi in the post-war period, according to the AfDB, which has already approved a $678,000 grant to help the government develop an electricity master plan.

State utility Regie de Distribution et de Production de l’Eau et de l’Electricité has applied to the European Investment Bank (EIB) for financing for two run-of-river hydropower plants with a combined installed capacity of 48MW in the south of the country. The EIB said on 4 June that it was considering a loan of about €70m for construction of the 31.5MW Jiji and 16.5MW Mulembwe plants as well as an 80km 110kV transmission line to Bujumbura, to deliver power to the national grid.

The World Bank is assessing $100m of International Development Association finance for the $270.4m Jiji and Melembwe hydropower project. The project, which will go before the board for approval on 22 April, aims to help overcome the reduction in power output during the six-month dry season. All hydroelectric generation except the 18MW Rwegura facility comprises run-of-river plants without reservoirs.The project will construct two hydroelectric power plants in Bururi Province at a cost of $252m, one on the Mulembwe River and another on the Jiji River, as well as 110kV transmission lines. Prefeasibility studies were conducted in 2011 on four sites identified by Fichtner in 2010, with Jiji and Mulembwe designated priority projects.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) board is expected to approve financial support for the 80MW Rusumo Falls hydroelectric project on 27 November. The project is one of several complex cross-border projects in the region that are receiving strong multilateral backing after a long period of gestation. The dam and the power station will be located at the confluence of the Nyabarongo River, which comes from Rwanda, and the Ruvubu River, which comes from Burundi. Downstream of the Rusumo Falls, the two form the Kagera River, which marks the border between Rwanda and Tanzania.

Ministers from Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 20 September, paving the way for implementation of the 80MW Rusumo Falls hydroelectric project on the Kagera River. Tanzania energy and minerals minister Sospeter Muhongo, Rwandan infrastructure minister Silas Lwakabamba and Burundi’s energy and mines minister, Côme Manirakiza, signed the agreement in the Tanzanian town of Bukoba, on Lake Victoria. The dam and the power station will be located at the confluence of the Nyabarongo River, which comes from Rwanda, and the Ruvubu River, which comes from Burundi. Downstream of the Rusumo Falls, the two form the Kagera River, which marks the border between Rwanda and Tanzania.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines has invited bids for two 10MW photovoltaic solar plants at Gitega and Bubanza. Bids for the build, own and operate contract are now due by 2 October, following a deadline extension to give more time for bidders to prepare their submissions. According to a joint study by the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Burundi has significant solar potential of 2,000kWh/m2/yr, which is comparable with the Mediterranean area, as well as 1,700MW of hydro potential, of which 300MW is economically exploitable. However, ministry officials say development of hydro sites is often hampered by a lack of feasibility or technical studies.

Following the signing of a €16m financing agreement between the European Union and the East African Community for the Rwanda-Burundi electricity interconnection and Abengoa’s appointment to build the Kenya-Uganda transmission line, the brisk pace of activity at the Interconnection of Electric Grids of Nile Equatorial Lakes Countries project is continuing with a new tender in Burundi.

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is seeking a hydropower engineer to act as project manager for the regional Rusumo Falls project on the Kagera River. The scheme’s projected 80MW output will be shared between Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania, which will establish a special purpose vehicle to oversee implementation and operation.

Tanzania’s neighbour Burundi has licensed four blocks on Lake Tanganyika. Block A is held by Nigeria’s A-Z Petroleum Products, which also has Block L1A in Kenya. A-Z is part of the Chicason Group, owned by Chief Alexander Chika Okafor.

The 25MW first phase of US company ContourGlobal’s KivuWatt project to generate power from Lake Kivu’s methane is due to commission between March and May this year. Delays associated with procuring equipment, materials and personnel could cause further hold-ups, but the project is eagerly anticipated by observers waiting to see whether the technology can be expanded beyond the government’s 1.5MW pilot scheme.

The onshore blocks to the west of BG Group’s acreage are not proving to be quite so prolific. Well tests from Maurel & Prom’s Ziwani-1 well, spudded in February in the Mnazi Bay Concession, indicate that the potential resource volumes from a clean limestone reservoir of Pliocene age, 3.5 meters thick, are sub-commercial.

The European Union has invited applications to prequalify for studies for the proposed 145MW Ruzizi I hydroelectric project’s grid connection, and rehabilitation studies for the 29.8MW Ruzizi 1 and 43.8MW Ruzizi II plants (AE 207/14).

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (Nelsap) has invited expressions of interest (EoIs) by 23 November from consultants to serve as owner’s engineer for the 90MW Rusumo Falls hydropower project on the Kagera River.

Energy and mines minister Moise Bucumi has promised an improvement in power supply following the signing of a contract with Tanzania-based generator supplier Pivotech for 25MW of additional power.

Surestream Petroleum has given the UK’s WGP Exploration a contract to convert a former United Nations fisheries vessel to carry out 2D acquisition on Lake Tanganyika.