MARKET OPORTUNITIES

Hydropower

• Rwanda’s major Rivers countrywide have proven potential for electric hydropower generation. Thus opportunities exist in micro, small and shared regional hydropower projects.
• Around 30 companies, both Rwandese and international are currently involved in hydropower projects in Rwanda.
• 21 mini hydro power plants are operational in Rwanda, supplying electricity directly to the grid under the PPA arrangement.
• large hydro power plants, currently, 7 grid-connected large plants provide 137.5 MW of generation capacity.
• Regional hydropower plants are expected in the future. These include Ruzizi III of 145 MW shared with Burundi & DRC and Rusumo 80 MW shared with Tanzania & Burundi, which are at an advanced stage of implementation.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV)

• Rwanda is located in East Africa at approximately two degrees below the equator. It is generally characterized by Savannah climate and its geographical location endows it with sufficient solar radiation intensity approximately equal to 5kWh/m2/day and peak sun hours of approximately 5 hours per day. Rwanda has High solar irradiance, with 1890kWh/per sqm in the eastern provinces.
•  Gigawatt global has developed the first biggest utility-scale; grid-connected, IPP and commercial solar field in East Africa; the 8.5MW solar power plant located in Rwamagana, Rwanda Eastern province is operational since 2015.

Other Sources
  

• In order to increase generation and provide affordable electricity, Rwanda’s energy strategy is to diversify sources of energy, by focusing on the development of domestic source and phasing out thermal generation (only keeping the minimum for back up purpose).
• Besides Hydropower and Solar energy, Rwanda has also potential of 350MW from Lake Kivu methane gas, 300MW from peat, and 490MW from Geothermal
• *New grid connected projects are expected in the near future, however they are subject to the power demand and the Least Cost Development Plan for the sake of grid stability.

OFF-GRID PROJECTS (STANDALONE SOLAR HOME SYSTEMS AND MINI-GRIDS)

• More than 60% of Rwandans are in off-grid areas (about 1.2million households).
• Opportunities exist in supplying Standalone Solar Home Systems (SHS) and building mini-grids for rural electrification to achieve the 48% off-access by 2023/24.
• The market for Standalone solar systems is growing in Rwanda, and currently a total of approximately 50,000 solar home systems are known to have been installed in Rwanda for the last 3 years.
• Assessment of 20 potential mini grids locations is being carried out by Rwanda Energy Group (REG),
• Availability of seed funds including the Scaling-up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries Program (SREP) and the Result Based Fund (RBF) to make mini-grids sustainable and affordable to Rwandans.

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION STRATEGY (RES)

• Rwanda’s Total on-grid installed solar energy is 12.08 MW. Households far away from the planned national grid coverage are encouraged to use Solar Photovoltaic (PVs) to reduce the cost of access to electricity.
• The Rural Electrification Strategy in Rwanda approved in June 2016 outlines strategies through which Rwanda’s households could “have access to electricity through the most cost effective means by developing programmes that will facilitate both the end users to access less costly technologies and increase private sector participation in the provision of these solutions”.
• In line with this strategy, the Energy Development Corporation Ltd. (EDCL) signed MoUs with some 24 private companies to increase the supply of off-grid solar home systems, improving the country’s supply chain, bringing solar systems closer to the clients countrywide. As a result, today, 189,069 households are accessing electricity through off-grid solution, mostly solar home systems.