The photo is sourced from english.news.cn
The hydropower plant is called to reduce energy shortage, which remains a chronic problem in east African countries. According to the World Bank in Rwanda 47% of households have access to power grid, only 12% – in Tanzania (no data available on Burundi). Concurrently, for the countries of the region rapid demographical growth is characteristic: the Burundi population grew from 2010 till 2020 by 37% (up to 11.9 mln people), Rwanda – by 29% (up to 13 mln people), and Tanzania – by 35% (up to 59.7 mln people) respectively. However, commissioning of new power plants lags behind swelling of potential energy demand: according to the Ember Research Centre, the share of 3 countries is a bit more than 1% of capacity increase of all types of generation in Africa during 2010 to 2030 period (1.3 GW out of 96 GW).
Hydropower remains a key energy source for the countries participating in the project: in 2020 HPP share of generation in Burundi was 63%, in Rwanda and Tanzania – 54% and 33% respectively. HPP commissioning will enhance leadership of hydropower within generation structure, considering that the installed capacity of a new HPP is equal to 10% of capacity of all HPP units, operating in the territory of three countries (760 MW).
Africa is number two region in the world in terms of growth rate: the HPPs’ capacity in the region in between 2010 and 2020 increased by nine gigawatt (GW), while in Asia—by 187 GW, and in North America by 8 GW, according to Ember.
