KIGALI - Delegates to the East African Power Pool (EAPP) Thursday visited Birembo electricity substation in Kinyinya Sector and were impressed by its capacity and structure.

The delegates had been in Kigali to attend a two-day EAPP steering committee meeting that was aimed at discussing ways of fostering a positive regional power trade among regional countries.

The delegates included officials from AfDB, USAID, the World Bank and representatives of regulatory bodies from the COMESA sub-region.

David Mwange, the Executive Security of EAPP, said that the delegates’ visit was aimed at establishing the substation’s capacity as it will in future supply electricity to Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Operated by RECO/RWASCO, Birembo power plant produces 70Kv of power and serves the whole of the Eastern Province with 30kv remaining with a surplus of 40kv and has the capacity to absorb all interconnection projects from East African countries.

"The station’s capacity indicates that Rwanda is on the right track to close energy deficit in the region…and when we see the Lake Kivu methane gas project and Rusizi III and Rusizi IV hydropower plants, to us as EAPP, these are awesome projects,” said Mwange. 

Statistics from government indicate that though energy rollout in Rwanda is still very low compared to other Sub-Saharan countries, the projects that are currently underway will ensure that energy access increases to at least 35% by 2020.

The East African Power Pool is an institution of COMESA with a membership of 8 countries, whose main objective is to pool together all available electrical energy resources to make electricity available and affordable within the region.

Ends