Rwanda plans to promote the development of renewable energies in order to achieve universal electricity access by the end of 2024, local media quoted President Paul Kagame as saying Thursday
Official estimates show that about 44 per cent of Rwanda’s energy sources are renewable.
To achieve this goal, the Rwandan government is targeting 100% electricity access by 2024 (52% on-grid, 48% off-grid). Rwanda is endowed with natural energy resources including hydro, solar, and methane gas in Lake Kivu in the west of the country. It currently has 225 MW of installed generation capacity and 53% of the country has access to electricity.
Speaking in in New York during the Columbia Global Energy Summit, organized by the Center on Global Energy Policy, Kagame said that it is very clear that “for us to grow and realise middle-income or high-income status without electricity access is just not possible”
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), some 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity, making it an obstacle to economic development.
“First, we need energy, and then from there we can talk about what type of energy. If we can have access to green energy, this would be the best. But how do you get there realistically?” he said.
Some of the countries do not have the sources of fossil fuel, which is a problem already.
Before the global crises affecting the world currently, Africa was struggling – and still making good progress, the President said.
“But now there is pressure on the side of energy and energy access, food, fuel and financing for every activity on the continent, just like in different parts of the world. But Africa is getting together through integration,” he said, citing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
Kagame stated that the African economies are recovering from the impact Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
CU/abj/APA