POWER AFRICA IN RWANDA

Speeches Shim

ENERGY SECTOR OVERVIEW

The Government of Rwanda envisions transitioning from a developing country to a middle-income country. To achieve this goal, the government is targeting 100% electricity access by 2024. Rwanda is endowed with natural energy resources including hydro, solar, and methane gas. It currently only has 218 MW of installed generation capacity. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Rwanda’s national electrification rate is estimated at 30% (12% in rural areas, 72% in urban areas).

GENERATION CAPACITY

  • Installed Capacity: 218 MW
    • Hydroelectric: 98 MW
    • Thermal: 103 MW
    • Solar: 12 MW
  • Reached Financial Close: 124 MW
  • Power Africa 2030 Pipeline: 176 MW

CONNECTIONS

  • Current Access Rate: 30%
    • Rural: 12% Urban: 72%
  • People without Power: 1.7 million
  • Target: Universal access by 2024 (52% on-grid, 48% off-grid)
  • PA New Off-Grid Connections: 380,579

INVESTMENT AND ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

Biggest Issues

1.Misalignment of power supply and demand
2.Limited financing for off-grid companies 
3.Limited affordability of electricity solutions for rural households and businesses

Power Africa Interventions

  1. Support in on- and off-grid energy policy development and implementation
  2. Transaction advisory services
  3. Technical assistance and capacity building for energy sector institutions
  4. Financing mobilization

POWER AFRICA’S ENGAGEMENT IN RWANDA

MW GENERATION

Through the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative (ACEF), Power Africa has supported the early stage development of several generation projects. In addition, various firms have received U.S. Embassy support to move transactions forward. Through USAID, Power Africa is working to strengthen the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) (the country’s utility) and the Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency (RURA) to ensure the sustainable development of sector.

CONNECTIONS

Power Africa works with Rwanda’s utility to build capacity in planning, project management, and network modeling to strengthen the network and to accelerate on-grid connections. These efforts will boost transmission and distribution capacity, enable regional trade, and improve the financial performance of the utility.

In collaboration with other donors, Power Africa advises the Rwandan government on the design and implementation of its rural electrification strategy, which supports the role-out of solar home systems and mini-grids. It is contributing to a multi-donor program to accelerate access to electricity for bottom of the pyramid households and to track growth of the off-grid solar market through an innovative database and verification mechanism. It is mobilizing off-grid finance through USAID’s Development Credit Authority and technical assistance to local financial institutions and USADF has provided grant funding to two women-owned Rwandan off-grid businesses.

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