Rwanda Developing A Utility-Scale Solar Plant Worth $24M Set To Boost Its Economy
Rwanda has come a long way since its dark past of tribal clashes. It is now setting itself up as one of the most development oriented and ICT-proficient nations in Africa. Last week Innovative Magazine brought you news about two of the most promising projects being undertaken by Rwanda: The Smart Kigali Initiative and the SocialEDU Initiative. The former initiative being a predecessor of the latter making up the supporting infrastructure for the latter.
Now, Rwanda has set itself on yet another development course to better the lives of its citizens and hasten its steps towards becoming an industrialized nation. The Rwandan government has entered into a treaty with Energiya Global from Israel. A deal that was brokered by one Yosef Abramowitz: a dual American-Israeli citizen. The site for building the solar plant will be located at the Agahozo – Shalom Youth village, located east of Kigali. The Agahozo – Shalom Youth Village is actually a boarding school established as a home for young kids whose parents were killed during Rwanda’s infamous genocide era.
Energiya Global intends to not only establish a source of green energy in Rwanda, but also give the Shalom Youth Village an opportunity to become economically independent. This will be made possible from the revenues the people will get from the solar fields. Upon the completion of the installation of the solar project, it is expected to increase the power supply in the Rwandan national grid by 8%. It will also make Rwanda the first East African country to have a utility-scale solar plant of this magnitude, costing $24 million. The project is expected to supply an additional 8.5 megawatt of power into the national grid.
Energiya Global has undertaken this project as a pilot program to prove that solar plants are commercially viable projects throughout Africa. It is estimated that more than 550 million people in Africa still live without access to electricity, hence this Rwandan solar project is setting the right precedence for the same to be replicated in other regions of Africa. This acquisition of a new source of electricity is part of a big agenda by the Rwandan government to see the country adopt technology and industrialization faster and more efficiently.
