Rwanda on track to commissioning the first Solar Power Plant in East Africa

(PRNewswire) Rwanda is preparing to commission in early August 2014 the first utility-scale solar PV power plant in East Africa with a production capacity of 8.5 megawatts. The project has commenced testing phase of up to 20 percent of its total capacity.

The plant is projected to increase the country’s production capacity by up to 8 percent.

Access to electricity is crucial for economic growth and development in Rwanda, and similarly in the rest of Africa.

Earlier this month, the country’s Minister of Infrastructure, Silas Lwakabamba led a high-level delegation which visited the Gigawatt Global Rwanda Ltd construction site, the utility-scale solar power plant located in eastern Rwanda.

“Generation and provision of electricity to all Rwandans is a priority. This initiative to produce 8.5 megawatts of clean energy is an important addition towards closing Rwanda’s current energy gap,” said the Minister at the site.

Scatec Solar is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction company responsible for building the power plant, and Remote Partners is the local management and support firm.

Once the plant is on line, Scatec Solar will operate and maintain the plant which will feed electricity directly into the main grid.

The Paul Kagame administration is encouraging private sector involvement and private-public partnerships as part of its development policy. In addition, energy for all is an important goal in the fight against poverty. Energy must be affordable, energy supplies must be reliable, and last but not least, energy is ideally clean and renewable. Solar energy is an important part of the energy mix along with hydropower and other sources of renewable energy in Africa.