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Rwanda works to power up with clean energy

By PERRY BEEMAN
Des Moines Register
December 20, 2009

Kigali, Rwanda -Six years ago, a drought nearly snuffed out the tiny flicker that is Rwanda's electricity supply.

The country relies mainly on hydropower. The rivers ran low, perhaps a preview of climate-change impacts to come.

"We almost came into darkness," said Albert Butare, minister of state for energy. The temporary fix? Flying in expensive diesel-powered generators.

"They are hard lessons," Butare said. "We need to look ahead."

Rwanda and Iowa share a goal of developing clean, sustainable power. Iowa, now heavily dependent on coal, seeks a shift to wind, solar and biomass while ramping up energy efficiency.

In Rwanda, only 8 percent of households have electricity. It seeks to build its first nationwide grid largely with renewable energy sources, along with hopes to tap a bubble of methane under Lake Kivu.

Kigali, Rwanda — Six years ago, a drought nearly snuffed out the tiny flicker that is Rwanda's electricity supply.

The country relies mainly on hydropower. The rivers ran low, perhaps a preview of climate-change impacts to come.

"We almost came into darkness," said Albert Butare, minister of state for energy. The temporary fix? Flying in expensive diesel-powered generators.

"They are hard lessons," Butare said. "We need to look ahead."

Rwanda and Iowa share a goal of developing clean, sustainable power. Iowa, now heavily dependent on coal, seeks a shift to wind, solar and biomass while ramping up energy efficiency.

In Rwanda, only 8 percent of households have electricity. It seeks to build its first nationwide grid largely with renewable energy sources, along with hopes to tap a bubble of methane under Lake Kivu.

Kigali, Rwanda — Six years ago, a drought nearly snuffed out the tiny flicker that is Rwanda's electricity supply.

The country relies mainly on hydropower. The rivers ran low, perhaps a preview of climate-change impacts to come.

"We almost came into darkness," said Albert Butare, minister of state for energy. The temporary fix? Flying in expensive diesel-powered generators.

"They are hard lessons," Butare said. "We need to look ahead."

Rwanda and Iowa share a goal of developing clean, sustainable power. Iowa, now heavily dependent on coal, seeks a shift to wind, solar and biomass while ramping up energy efficiency.

In Rwanda, only 8 percent of households have electricity. It seeks to build its first nationwide grid largely with renewable energy sources, along with hopes to tap a bubble of methane under Lake Kivu.

If Rwanda can power up with clean, diverse energy sources, it could become a model for the developing world. That's important for Iowa and the rest of the developed world amid fears about climate change.

The Copenhagen climate change talks, which wound down last week, underscored the tensions between developed and developing economies over who will sacrifice most to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Rwandan President Paul Kagame has remained a steadfast supporter of an agreement to cut emissions.

His interest isn't academic. He believes shifting weather patterns could ruin Rwanda's agriculture, and he hopes Rwandans could make money selling carbon credits as the nation plants trees. Iowa farmers share similar interests in climate change impacts and the potential for reaping rewards from planting grass or reducing tillage.

Rwanda didn't set out to become an international model of diverse energy sources. Circumstances forced it. The country doesn't have coal and oil supplies — or the money to import massive amounts of them as Iowa does.

Rwanda is just now poking around under Lake Kivu to see whether oil and natural gas might have pooled. So the government is looking for other ways — methane from cattle, landfills and the lake bubble, plus propane for cooking, solar, geothermal, biofuels, maybe wind — to provide energy for 10 million people and a growing commercial sector.

Today, Rwanda's biggest source of energy is wood burning, which pollutes the air with haze. Hydropower is the main electricity source.

A single wind farm in Iowa generates more electricity than the 72 megawatts feeding Rwanda's few power lines.

The lack of power in Rwanda poses a central challenge as the economy surges, 15 years after genocide killed nearly 1 million of its residents.

Rwandans aren't looking to power flat-screen TVs or refrigerators. Here, most people would just like to have lights in their homes. Eventually, the federal government's push for a tech-savvy population might bring a move to computers.

Still, power needs are soaring. International and local companies are building hotels, communication systems and industrial facilities that suck up electricity. The government has allocated $350 million to increase power. It hopes to add 350,000 more connections by 2012, which would mean 16 percent of homes would be wired.

"What gives us hope is that it took from 1963 to 2005 to get 70,000 connections, but from 2005 through October 2009, we reached 130,000," Butare said.

That does not mean the people can afford the power, which is expensive at 23 cents per kilowatt hour. Iowa's average retail price was a shade over 11 cents this summer.

The government is looking to subsidize the industry.

"We're working to go green and cheaper," with a goal of 10 cents to 15 cents per kilowatt hour, Butare said.

Part of the challenge is rural Rwandans' preference for living in tiny villages in the hills, where utility extensions are virtually impossible.

"People prefer to live up in the mountains with their little family, but that would be hard to connect," Butare said.

So the government has a program called "imidugudu," or "living together," a campaign to encourage people to live in more larger villages.

For the next several years, the country will increase power largely with hydro expansions and burning methane. Two-dozen hydroelectric projects will build on a system of 300 already in place. Many are small-scale, meant to serve a specific village or area.

The methane will come from rotting garbage, manure and the unusual giant bubble between the waters of Lake Kivu and the lake bed. The lake is in the country's volcano region, along the border with Democratic Republic of Congo, which also will get power from the project.

Skeptics in Rwanda think messing with the methane bubble is asking for an explosion or a dangerous release to the atmosphere. A 1986 carbon dioxide leak from a lake suffocated at least 1,700 in a Cameroon valley, adding to Rwandans' fears today.

Lake methane pilot projects have been encouraging. Workers are extracting the gas, then reinjecting water in an area that had methane. The government estimates lake methane alone could produce 10,000 times as much power as Rwanda generates nationwide now.

The government also wants to burn methane extracted from the Nyanza landfill to generate power. And it wants every farmer with cattle or other livestock to have a system that converts methane from the manure, to be used to produce power. Farms in Iowa are experimenting with similar systems.

"We are encouraging every farmer to have a biogas plant," Butare said. "It's very much enough to cook. Some get lighting, if they have enough cows."

The government is offering loan guarantees and subsidies for biogas systems. There are 450 now, and 300 are under construction.

By 2013, more than half the country's power will come from methane drawn from the lake, landfills and farms, Butare said.

Lots of other work is under way. By 2012, regional health clinics will be on the power grid or have their own solar panels. And more than half of schools within reach of the grid will have power, Butare said.

The country is looking to burn peat, and it has a fledgling biodiesel industry, using jatropha trees and shrubs as feedstock.

The government is studying geothermal, and there are plans to turn organic trash into diesel fuel.

All those options seem to bode well for light bulbs across the country, but growth in the population and the economy presents a formidable challenge.

"We have to run fast" to meet the new demands, Butare said. "Every night, I get a report on reserves on my cell phone, and it is not enough."

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posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 10:53 PM