EDITORIAL: Keep power generation a top national priority

The KivuWatt power project has finally delivered some 22MW onto the national grid, a development that will somewhat ease pressure on the national electricity utility. Manufacturers and other businesses who have been pressing Rwanda Energy Group to reduce load shedding can now at least be assured of more power supply. This will give the economy a shot in the arm, especially if the manufacturing sector is prioritied to support the country’s industrialisation programme. The plant, which will produce 25MW during the first phase, also shows that generating power from diverse sources is the way to go to ensure sustainable resource utilisation and sustainable development. The government is involved with several power projects across the country – peak, hydropower, and solar – as it continues to seek ways to accelerate economic development. This will eventually wean the country off expensive thermal energy and help reduce energy imports in the long-term. Presently, the country produces over 161MW of power, and is targeting to add about 60MW more by the year’s end. This includes 30MW to be imported from Kenya by December as the power utility moves to ensure constant power supply to help drive the country’s second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II). Industrialisation and value-addition are some of the key components of the EDPRS II blueprint. Therefore, more energy supply supports the private sector’s efforts to drive the programme and help deliver Rwanda to a middle-income economy in the medium-term. Besides, the country targets to extend power supply to over 70 per cent of the Rwandan households by 2018. It targets installed power generation at 563MW of power by 2020. Indeed, the connection of the new methane gas power plant onto the grid underlines the importance of fully utilising the country’s natural resources to support national development programmes. The public will hope that other ongoing energy-generation projects will also come to fruition sooner rather than later.

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EDITORIAL: Keep power generation a top national priority