{{Rwanda \u2013 through the vision of a Jerusalem-based team led by American-Israeli Yosef Abramowitz \u2013 may soon become home to an 8.5- megawatt solar oasis capable of providing 8% of the country\u2019s energy supply.}}<\/p>\n
Although Abramowitz\u2019s Energiya Global and the Rwandan government are still working on signing a final agreement, the company provided a progress report on the project on Tuesday morning at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, in the presence of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. <\/p>\n
If the agreement is finalized, the country\u2019s first solar field will be located at the Agahozo- Shalom Youth Village, a boarding school for genocide orphans east of Kigali, the country\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
The company hopes not only to bring a new and clean source of energy to Rwanda but also to catalyze industrial growth, create jobs and generate revenue for healthcare and education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very grateful that you can make the choice to invest in us as well as with us,\u201d Kagame said.<\/p>\n
Abramowitz launched Energiya Global as its president and co-founder with the hope of bringing solar energy to the developing world. <\/p>\n
President and co-founder of the Arava Power Company as well, Abramowitz and his partners were responsible for the construction of Israel\u2019s first grid-connected, medium-sized solar field, which came online at Kibbutz Ketura in June 2011. <\/p>\n
New Jersey businessman David Rosenblatt and Ketura resident Ed Hofland cofounded both companies with Abramowitz, and were joined by Ira Green and company chairman Howie Rodenstein in establishing Energiya.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel that we are brothers and sisters with the Rwandan people, because we have also come from darkness into light,\u201d Abramowitz said.<\/p>\n
The 8.5-MW project would encompass about 16 of the youth village\u2019s 60 hectares and would provide approximately 8% of the country\u2019s energy, explained Chaim Motzen, vice president and Africa regional director at Energiya Global.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a great solar resource in Rwanda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The business climate of Rwanda is one of the best in all of Africa, and the government is eager to reduce its dependency on diesel fuel, Motzen stressed. <\/p>\n
Rwanda has about 100 MW of electricity for its 11 million people, which is derived from approximately 55% hydroelectric sources, 40% diesel and 5% methane gas.<\/p>\n
After Energiya and the government of Rwanda signed a memorandum of understanding, the company submitted its feasibility study to the government at the end of 2012, and final negotiations toward signing a deal are now taking place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that we will break ground and begin construction before Christmas,\u201d Motzen said.<\/p>\n
Once the solar field is operating, it will support the country\u2019s economic growth, provide power to public institutions such as hospitals, reduce operating costs for businesses and create thousands of jobs, he explained. <\/p>\n
The site will also become an educational hub, attracting students from the village and from the region to come learn about solar energy production.<\/p>\n
The facility will also have a positive environmental effect on both a national and local scale, reducing the need for women to burn wood in their homes \u2013 an act that makes their air 20 times more polluted than that of Beijing, Motzen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project will be a reliable source of income for the orphanage,\u201d and a portion of the profits will be shared with the village, he added. \u201cWe hope that this is a replicable model.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village is the ideal host site for the country\u2019s first solar field, according to Anne Heyman, the Jewish South African-American attorney and philanthropist who founded the village in December 2008.<\/p>\n
The massive Rwandan genocide in 1994 led to a situation in which there was \u201cno systemic solution to the orphan problem,\u201d Heyman explained.<\/p>\n
By establishing the youth village, she said she aimed to transplant the Israeli way of coping with traumatized youth to Rwanda, noting that \u201cwe share a common history in so many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
This past January, the village was proud to send off its first graduating high-school class, with 99% of the students passing the Rwandan national exams, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are kids that came from the worst of the worst,\u201d Heyman continued, stressing that now, they aim to give back to their country. \u201cThese are kids who are able to communicate, to think creatively.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heyman explained that Rwanda is also a fitting country for solar energy development, as concern for the environment is prevalent among its citizens, who will not even be seen carrying plastic bags. <\/p>\n
In his capacity as president, Kagame advocates a policy of diversifying energy sources as widely as possible, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a perfect match for Agahozo-Shalom to be a place where we will be able to bring alternative energy,\u201d Heyman said.<\/p>\n
Now that the Israeli youth village system has proved successful at Agahozo-Shalom in Rwanda, Heyman said, she feels that the concept \u201ccan be replicated with great success.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge now is to figure out how to make this village and the ones that follow sustainable,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need people willing to invest in businesses \u2013 like the solar company \u2013 on behalf of the village. Then we are talking true sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the eyes of Kagame, Agahozo- Shalom Youth Village \u201csymbolizes the partnership that is there, that we want to be there\u201d between Israel and Rwanda.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Rwanda we feel very much closely associated with Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are happy to build on this, on these symbols of togetherness.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there are still many challenges for Rwandans to overcome, Kagame stressed, none is \u201cinsurmountable,\u201d adding that people who came from nothing are now able to become something in the country. <\/p>\n
Some of the challenges include continually improving education, developing technology, constructing infrastructure, integrating the various regions of the country and bringing markets to scale, he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to impact lives of people,\u201d Kagame said. \u201cThere are things that cement all these ideas together and one of these is energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou understand the meaning of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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