{{Rwanda is targeting the generation of 1,000 megawatts of electric energy by 2017. According to the Ministry of infrastructure, the country is generating only 100 megawatts serving 6% of the total population.}}<\/p>\n
However, the Belgian Development Agency (BTC) plans to fund the new electricity generation project to a tune of Euros 55Million for a period of three years.<\/p>\n
Erik Van Malderen, a BTC expert working with the ministry of infrastructure on the project disclosed that even though Rwanda\u2019s 1,000-megawatt goal is unrealistic and may be less than what it needs. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s need to develop hydroelectricity, methane gas and peat, since they may be able to generate 300 megawatts to 600 megawatts in the same time period.<\/p>\n
Other sources of energy can be obtained from the Rusumo Falls project which may generate as much as 30 megawatts.<\/p>\n
Van Malderen noted that the construction is scheduled to begin in early 2012, of which 40% of the project will be funded by the Africa Development Bank with bilateral organizations funding 15%. <\/p>\n
So far the government is seeking financing for the remaining 55%.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, The Brussels-based agency hopes to attract investors in the country by conducting drilling to prove that about 300 megawatts of energy can be extracted from Rwanda\u2019s part of the East African Rift, a geothermal hot-spot that spans 11 African countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a little bit reluctant to invest until it has been proven that there is a resource,\u201d Van Malderen remarked. \u201cBut there are some interests from companies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The government hopes energy projects will cut the price of electricity by 50% and reduce Rwanda\u2019s dependence on oil imports. \u201cIf we don\u2019t invest in renewable energy, we will just witness increase in prices,\u201d Van Malderen warned.<\/p>\n
He said that the project was essential to economic growth, and that other countries in the region are working on similar projects. \u201cBoth Tanzania and Burundi are building a $360 million hydropower plant that could generate 90 megawatts,\u201d Van Malderen concluded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Rwanda is targeting the generation of 1,000 megawatts of electric energy by 2017. According to the Ministry of infrastructure, the country is generating only 100 megawatts serving 6% of the total population.}} However, the Belgian Development Agency (BTC) plans to fund the new electricity generation project to a tune of Euros 55Million for a period […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[158],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-1126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-b_igi_adm1n"],"bylines":[{"id":158,"name":"b_igi_adm1n","slug":"b_igi_adm1n","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":1}],"contributors":[{"id":158,"name":"b_igi_adm1n","slug":"b_igi_adm1n","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":1}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=1126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}