Frank Kanyesigye of The New Times Rwanda is reporting that geothermal drilling will begin on April 15 in Rwanda on the Karisimbi volcano. The government has alloted a US $27 million (Rwf17.1 billion) for the project. Chinese companies have been awarded the contracts and will be responsible for materials, while infrastructure around the site will be improved by a local firm. In 2011, the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) projected that Rwanda could produce over 700 MW of energy through geothermal extraction.
Kanyesigye writes:
While appearing before parliament last December, Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi presented the government’s Rwf3 trillion ($4.7bn)-road map for energy production and accessibility over the next five years.
Government plans to progressively tap 200MW from peat, 310MW from geothermal, 320MW from hydro power, and 300MW from methane gas, among others. Presently, the country produces 110.8MW which equals to 16 per cent in terms of domestic accessibility.
Read more at The New Times Rwanda.
This news brief was written by Kaitlin Higgins, editorial assistant for the Burton Wire.
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