Construction of the Rucanzogera mini hydropower project in Rwanda is set to commence. This is after a power purchase agreement (PPA) was signed for the project between Rwanda Energy Group (REG) and Norwegian company, Empower New Energy and its partners.
The hydropower project will be located in Rusiga. The project involves construction of a run-of-river hydroelectric power plant. This is a facility that does not require the construction of a dam to operate. The turbines rotate according to the flow of the river in which they are installed.
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Rucanzogera small hydropower project
Upon completion the small hydropower plant will have a capacity of 1.9 MW and also avoid carbon dioxide emissions of 7,000 tons per year. According to the Norwegian company, the project will generate cumulative savings of about US $67,500 per year for households in the target area by giving them access to cheaper energy through the grid. Approximately 10,000 people in rural Rwanda will benefit from the project
Rucanzogera project is being developed by a consortium consisting of the Norwegian company Empower New Energy, the Rwanda General Engineering Works Company (Tiger) and Malthe Winje, a company based in Oppegård, Norway.
According to the signed deal, the consortium is responsible for the import, export, supply, generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity in Rwanda. Overall cost of the project is US $7.9m which will be financed by the consortium and a grant worth US $500,000 from the Energy and Environment Partnership Trust Fund (EEP Africa).This is a dedicated clean energy credit line managed by the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) with funding from Austria, Finland and the NDF.
