Low access to a stable electricity supply is a hurdle for economic development
New sources of energy should translate into increased access and cheaper electricity
A sector-wide approach to developing the country's energy must focus on national, grid-based electrification, complemented with suitable least-cost, off-grid options
Kigali, October 30, 2008 -- Rwanda has made exemplary progress and is quickly becoming a development success story, turning the page on the devastating genocide of the 1990s. But the country’s low access to a stable electricity supply remains a daunting hurdle in its efforts to achieve economic development.
Rwanda has seen little to no investment in its energy sector for the last 25 years, and currently only six percent of its population has access to electricity.
Between 1994 and 2000, the country was reshaping itself, settling people, restoring security, and recovering from a number of post-genocide effects. When the Government embarked on an aggressive economic development plan, it became clear the country’s electricity deficit was more serious than anticipated. Until 2006, the few connections that existed suffered from unreliable service and high electricity prices, making it difficult for homes to provide quality lighting, clinics to offer needed services, and businesses to grow.
“To date, we have only about 97,000 connections countrywide,” said Albert Butare, Rwandan minister of state in charge of energy. “That is a very serious situation.”
New Sources of Energy Planned
Jacques Ndagiyintwali is the owner of Interlink Trading, a cyber café in Kigali connected to the country’s electrical grid. Ndagiyintwali laments the high price of electricity. New sources of energy, such as the planned hydro-electric plant at Rusumo Falls, or the Lake Kivu methane gas power plant, should be implemented so that the investments can translate into more electricity, for more people, for less money, he said.
“If more electricity is available, there will be a reduction in the cost, which would obviously benefit households and businesses such as mine,” Ndagiyintwali said.
Since 2004, a number of different initiatives are showing encouraging results.
For example, although electricity tariffs are high, they have remained stable since 2005, almost comparable to the regional commercial category tariff. And load shedding, or rolling blackouts, is no longer a problem.
Rwanda’s limited power supply currently comes mainly from domestic hydropower, a small amount of solar energy, and costly diesel-fired power plants. The latter are needed to ease the energy crisis and bridge the gap between spiraling energy demand and limited supply, until other low-cost power-generating plants such as the proposed methane gas power plant can be developed.
Developing Rwanda’s Energy Sector
The Government of Rwanda views modern energy as a critical driver of the country’s national, social, and economic development efforts. For that reason, in collaboration with the World Bank, the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), and other partners, the Government has embarked on a plan to develop the country’s energy sector through improved planning, monitoring, and allocation of resources.
This Sector Wide Approach, or SWAP, signed at a recent ceremony in Kigali, supports a common program of work in which strategy, policy development, planning, implementation, monitoring, review, and capacity-building are carried out as a joint effort through consultation between government, development, and civil society partners.
The approach will provide an anchor for potential financiers to engage with the Government to help raise funds.
The SWAP will emphasize renewable energy, and also consider national and regional generation projects, mainly in methane gas power and hydropower. Further, the approach will address Rwanda’s connectivity with neighboring countries to increase access and secure cost-effective supply of energy.
In addition to connecting households and businesses, Rwanda’s objective is to deliver electricity to rural public institutions, such as schools and health centers.
“By the year 2020 we should be able to increase electricity access by 36 to 40 percent in the whole of the country,” said John Milenge, director general of Electrogaz, a public utility for production, transmission and distribution of water and electricity in Rwanda.
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