Why Rwanda has not tapped her hot springs yet

Rwanda has several hot springs like the one in Kalisimbi, Bugarama, Rubavu, and elsewhere but they have not been tapped to generate electricity yet.

Hot springs are among Rwanda’s most amazing national tourism resource. They have the ability to attract thousands of tourists every year. Aside from being a touristic asset, hot springs can also be tapped in different ways including generating electricity.

While officiating the 7th African Geothermal Conference hosted by the government of Rwanda from October 29 to November 2, 2018, Minister of Infrastructure Amb. Claver Gatete said that the country has tried different projects to tap that resource into electricity but has not yet succeeded in doing so.

The conference brought together more than 500 delegates from across Africa and beyond.
Amb. Gatete said that Rwanda first had to seek adequate knowledge to avoid hiccups that might halt the project after.

Among what Rwanda has achieved in this regard is partnering with experts from developed countries in undertaking studies of tapping hot springs to generate electricity such as Ireland, Japan, Kenya, including sending students there to get knowledge.

“What we want is the expertise of other countries. We need to know how they dealt with it so that we may also generate our electricity knowing that we are doing it with the latest technology,” he said.

He explained that this will enable Rwanda to avoid the obstacles that other countries faced in generating electricity from their hot springs.

“It is a pilot project. We had other partners who assisted us financially, others about skills and recommending us some needed tools,” he added.

Gatete said that participants in the conference will also have the opportunity to visit hot spring areas in Rwanda, observe them and share their perspectives on how they can be better tapped.

So far, a test done at Kalisimbi hot springs has not been successful; but for the ones at Bugarama and Rubavu hot springs are promising.

He explained that Rwanda has implemented laws, policies, and strategies and that what remains is to see how it can be done properly.

In Africa, Kenya is the first country to process power from hot springs, 676 megawatts, while worldwide, the United States ranks first with 3951 megawatts.