Written by Alex Ngarambe | From NTV Uganda

Faced with a high cost of energy, Rwanda is planning to import 400MW of electricity from Ethiopia in the medium term. Kigali is exploring other avenues that will enable it achieve its ambitious second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) target of 70 per cent access rate to energy and an electricity generation capacity of 563MW by 2017.

For it to achieve its desired access rate, the government is planning to supply 1.7 million customers with electricity. Currently, the country’s total energy generation stands at 119MW.

Rwanda has designed a five-year electricity strategic plan in which it projects to deliver about 232MW of hydropower, 310MW geothermal power and 300MW from methane gas, as well as strengthen and expand transmission lines by an additional 2,100km.

Hydropower projects in the pipeline include Rusumo falls, Rusizi III and Nyabarongo II.

However, because most of them are in their infancy, the rising demand for energy will partly be met through significant energy imports, which is cheaper than generating energy from costly thermal projects.

Currently, 50 per cent of Rwanda’s energy is generated via thermal means which is expensive largely due to fuel costs.

Read more at NTV Uganda