Rwanda
Sector
Energy
Investment opportunity: Lake Kivu opportunity
Location: Border of Rwanda and DRC
Summary: Rwanda is seeking investors to exploit methane gas at Lake Kivu, which has the capacity to support a 700MW power plant. Opportunities range from generation of electricity and production of liquid gas to production of engine fuel and cooking gas.
Sub-sector: About $50-billion a year worth of energy could potentially be generated at Lake Kivu if the existing resources could be exploited. It is estimated about 1 000 MW of electricity could be generated from the lake's resources over the next 50 years. Thereafter, power generation could continue at about 200 MW. The Ruzizi river, into which Lake
Kivu empties, could generate a further 500 MW of hydropower. The lake, although smaller than other lakes in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, is 500 m deep and holds about two-trillion cubic feet of methane resources and ten-trillion feet of carbon dioxide resources. Rwanda currently spends about $0,36/kWh to produce electricity but if electricity generation projects along the lake are exploited, the cost would be significantly lower at $0.10/kWh. Production costs could be reduced further to $0.07/kWh if carbon credit funding was realised. To unlock this potential, an infrastructure investment of about $3-billion would be required and a further $2-billion to develop the lake.
Other opportunities in the energy sector
Solar energy (insulation of nearly 5.15KWh/m²/day): electricity generation, installation of solar equipment in households nation-wide and setting up an assembly plant of solar panels.
Hydro power: PPP opportunities in developing macro-hydro power plants eg. Rusumo falls with 20MW and Nyabarongo river with a capacity of 27.5MW for which feasibility studies are available. Another opportunity is the development of micro-hydro power stations. Over 300 sites have been identified with the potential for establishing micro-hydropower stations.
Bio energy: Production of energy from peat (reserve of 6 billion cubic
meters) and waste; and increasing the efficiency of wood energy.
Manufacturing equipment for use in the energy sector
Aeolian energy, geothermal energy and fossil fuel (prospection and study results are available). This will generate more electricity.
Electricity distribution.
Sector: Rwanda has electricity shortages - the national power provider Electrogaz can't
adequately deliver to the 5% of the population that is currently connected to the electricity grid. The deficit (about 13%) is imported form neighbouring countries. Unlocking the substantial wealth in hydroelectric resources and natural gas deposits would make Rwanda a net exporter of power.
For more information contact the Rwanda Development Board.
Contact: Christine Akuzwe, Investor Mobilizer officer.
Email: info@rwandainvest.com
