The Government Rwanda has signed a memorandum of understanding with UK government to help boost power generation.

The deal was reached yesterday in London as part of UK-backed Energy Africa campaign.

The agreement was signed by Rwanda’s Infrastructure minister James Musoni and UK’s International Development minister Nick Hurd during the Global African Investment Summit in London on Wednesday.

The development makes Rwanda the sixth country to join the campaign after Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia Ghana and Malawi.

The campaign seeks to accelerate universal energy access in sub-Saharan Africa by boosting the continent’s household solar market.

And, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Infrastructure, the deal will help power up the emerging household solar market in Rwanda.

The campaign comes at a time when Rwanda is seeking to increase its power generation capacity to at-least 563MW by 2018.

Rwanda’s installed power generation capacity currently stands at 161.2MW, but only 119.38MW is available, according to officials.

Government expects to add 70MW onto the national grid by the end of the current fiscal year.

Today, the country’s hydro electricity generation capacity stands at more than 97.37MW, thermal power 51.7MW, methane 3.6MW, while 8.75MW is produced from solar energy. The national power generation capacity is expected to increase once Gishoma peat plant (15MW) and Giggawatt solar power plant (8.5MW) have been connected onto the national grid.

Last month KivuWatt was connected on to the national grid with expectations to generate about 25MW.

Other efforts to increase power supply include importing 30MW from Kenya – expected by the end of the year – and another 400MW from Ethiopia by 2018.

The Government has allocated Rwf135 billion in the current financial year to the energy sector to increase electricity supply to spur industrial growth.

According to Hurd, families are forced to rely on toxic, expensive kerosene and children cannot study after dark.

"On current projections the continent will not have universal energy access until 2080. That is why we must act to kick-start a solar revolution across Africa,” Hurd told reporters in London.

And with the cost of solar panels falling, battery technology improving and appliances becoming more efficient, now is the time to invest, he said, according to a statement. "British businesses are already combining solar and mobile phone technology to bring clean energy to people in Africa.”

"Together with African governments, investors, businesses, NGOs, think tanks and other donors, DFID will work to increase investment in off-grid energy firms, overcome regulatory barriers, foster innovation, and accelerate delivery of solar energy systems to households across Africa,” Hurd added.

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