Kigali, 5 November, 2019: Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Infrastructure, Eng. Patricie Uwase officiated the opening of the 3rd Edition of the Renewable energy for Sustainable Growth (RE4SG) conference taking place in Kigali Convention Centre from 5th and 6th November, 2019.

This year’s conference marked under the theme “Achieving Universal Green Energy Access in Africa'' was organised by Energy Private Developers (EPD) in partnership with World Bank, Open Africa, Shell Foundation and BFZ under the patronage and support of the Government of Rwanda (GoR).

The conference brought together about 300 participants from across the globe including government officials, financial institutions, private sector, technology developers, investors, civil societies and development partners to discuss ways to scale up and drive forward renewable energy and sharing experiences for renewable energy development across the globe.

In her opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Infrastructure, Eng. Patricie Uwase reiterated the commitment of Rwanda to continue championing Renewable Energy as the major share of the generation mix where the GoR through its Energy Sector Strategic Plan 2018-2024 & Least Cost Power Development Plan has set a target of 60% of the generation mix to be powered by Renewable resources by 2030.”

She noted, adding, “The current total generation installed capacity is 224.5MW and the share of renewable energy is currently 53% of the total electricity generated in the mix with the largest contributor being hydro and solar”.

 Eng. Uwase said that Renewable Energy will continue to be the main source of energy for the off-grid sector powering standalone home systems and mini-grids. “This sub-sector will be dominated by solar energy which will unlock significant environmental and social economic benefits”, she added.

 Permanent Secretary Uwase further insisted on the role of Government in putting in place incentives and encouraging initiatives geared towards promoting investment in the renewable energies.

 “One of the initiative that is currently running is the US $48 million Renewable Energy Fund (REF) that is managed by the Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) and which is being used to provide low cost debt financing to households and companies through SACCOs, commercial banks and solar companies for purchase of off grid solar home systems (SHS) and development of Renewable Mini-grids”, she noted.

The Chairman of EPD Dr Ivan Twagirashema said that EPD is committed to play a significant role to the Rwanda’s target of having 100% electricity access by 2024, where 52% will be on-grid and off-grid 48%.

 He said that “hydropower provides around a fifth of current capacity but not even a tenth of its total potential is being utilized”.

 “Similarly, the technical potential of solar, biomass, wind and geothermal energy is significant”, he added.

 Dr Twagirashema noted that access to energy is crucial not only for domestic use, health and education outcomes, but also for reducing the cost of doing business and for unlocking economic potential and creation of jobs.