Solar panels extending electric power distribution grid

Valentine Mukanyarwaya, a 48 year old woman farmer and mother of five, has always lived without electricity in a small remote village in the central region of Rwanda.  Kerosene has been her source of lighting until receiving a loan from a local microfinance service to buy a solar panel, battery, regulator, and a set of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED lights.

With no electrical installations in the area, Valentine never dreamt that she might acquire such a solar system, and with a deposit of only 20 per cent, with the balance paid in 24 monthly installments. "I think this is the best investment I have ever made since I no longer need to walk several kilometers to charge my mobile phone,” Mukanyarwaya said. “And this has provided extended working hours for my children, who are attending school."

Thanks to government incentives, including exemption from import tax on solar equipment and financial support, several financial institutions have received grants to provide loans in favour of local communities’ initiatives for various forms of renewable energy. To incentivize the private sector, expatriates working with renewables are offered a year free of income tax.

Since 2007, projects of this kind have been set up in different parts of Rwanda, especially on hill tops and on the roofs of schools, clinics and health centers across several rural villages in the tiny Central African nation.

It is estimated that only 16 percent of Rwanda's 11 million people have access to electricity from the national grid but for Rwandan officials, much of the success of solar energy depends on how many local communities will accept this novel innovation in their remote villages.

"The most important thing is not only government and political will but we also need these communities to understand that without using this kind of renewable energy they could be waiting for several years to get electricity from the national grid," says Yusuf Uwamahoro , the Deputy Director General in charge of Energy at Rwanda Energy and Water Sanitation Agency (EWSA).

Mugabo Baligira, a former shoe vendor, became a local sales representative for a foreign solar installation company, which has invested in Rwanda since 2008. "I was looking for a full-time paying job in my new business, but the major challenge is the mindset of the public in adopting new practices for using renewable energies," he observes. Because solar energy suffers from this grass-roots ignorance of its importance in the mindset by local communities, analysts argue that several remote areas across Rwanda remain in need of green energy solutions.

Nevertheless, the Rwanda government, recognizing that it is facing an energy crisis, has invested in diversifying its sources, particularly by shifting to renewable energy, which will cover at least 60 per cent of the country’s electricity demand by 2020.

In addition to an existing, German-built 250 Kilowatt solar plant project, which was inaugurated in 2007 at Mount Jali, a hill overlooking the city of Kigali, Rwandan  officials have identified and reserved 25 hectares of land for the construction of a 10 Megawatts photovoltaic solar plant in the North eastern region. And in 2012, the installation of a new solar power plant was sponsored by the European Union as part of a larger project aimed at electrifying schools in all 27 rural districts across Rwanda.

This project to serve rural areas was launched because the Rwandan government recognizes that currently 80 per cent of the electricity already generated in Rwanda (mainly by hydroelectric dams), is distributed just in the city of Kigali and its vicinity, where only five per cent of Rwandans live.

According to official figures, firewood remains the main source of energy in Rwanda, particularly in remote rural areas, with about 93 per cent of the population heavily dependent on this resource.