Title of Study- A Short Paper Research on energy sources in Rwanda and alternative solution regarding the lack of fossil fuels in the country. Author 1: Gaurav Gupta Affiliation: Lecturer, Sharda University E-Mail: gaurav30ap@gmail.com; gaurav.gupta5@sharda.ac.in Phone: 08527061614 Author 2: Himanshu Sood Affiliation: Assistant Professor, PCTE Group of Institutes E-Mail: himanshu.sood88@gmail.com, himanshu@pcte.edu.in Phone: 09988512232
Abstract With the increase in automation and technology, the power demand in the world is increasing. The rapid power demand proliferation is specifically in fastest developing countries, as they have started up with the commercial activities in their territories to support their economy and industrialization. Developed countries has already achieved those standards of self sufficiency and self reliance for power generation but developing countries are facing challenges of accumulating the electricity generation through non renewable resources. The study is specific to one of the fastest growing African country Rwanda. As the economy grows, the governments and private concerns look for alternative ways of cheap power production to play on economies of scale. This paper is the outcome of collection and analysis of power potential and its future alternate through secondary sources. Africa is also flourishing with its population that has put an impetus to the economy for satisfying their boosting power needs.
Introduction to Rwanda: Rwanda is a sovereign state in Central and East Africa. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda is in the African Great Lakes region and is highly elevated; its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate of the country is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. It is developing country which has been showing high willingness as well as promises for a better future. Despite the worse tragedy the country has faced in 1994, it has not stopped it from being a country, and this has not stopped it from hoping for a better tomorrow. Together as one, Rwandans and their best governance have made it to start a promising future, and have accomplished a lot so far, what no one believed was possible, starting from unity of the population, peace, development in various sectors as well as security. The country has been fighting for a strong development in all sectors since these last two decades. This goes with the increment in the population that increased the demand for indigenous products and imported simultaneously. As an answer to this problem, many industries and companies have taken initiative to give answers and serve the need, that is highly favoured by the government as well, also targets for foreign investors. With its high development rate, the availability of energy resources in a must, for every sector to move forward. Though, so far the country is still facing a big problem in this area that by any mean plays a very big input in the development of any country. Energy situation Domestic energy demand has grown rapidly due to population growth and the increase in economic activities especially during the last ten years Biomass based fuels dominate the energy scenario, with an estimated 95% of the total energy supply made up of firewood, charcoal, and agricultural residues. This is likely to remain so in the near or even medium term future, unless income levels substantially increase. Lack of investment for about 20 years in electricity generation capacity has resulted in severe capacity deficits in electricity supply in Rwanda. At the same time, overuse of existing hydropower capacity has added a deficit in energy resources that not only deteriorates electricity but also water supply, due to its effect on water pumping stations.
No new generating plant has been constructed in Rwanda since 1982 and, given the current electricity supply shortage; new investment in generation is urgently needed. It has been clear for some time that Rwanda s current energy crisis was looming due to the necessary over exploitation of hydropower water resources in the preceding years. However, despite identifying multiple longer term investment opportunities including Lake Kivu methane gas, Rusomo Falls, Nyaborongo and Rusizi 3, only limited progress has been made in securing funding for enhanced generation capacity. Given that Rwanda is a land characterised by many hills and small rivers there is also significant potential for the exploitation of micro-hydro power. Studies by the Ministry of Infrastructure have identified more than 160 sites with potential ranging from 20 KW to over 600 KW. There is also wind data that indicate there are potential sites for wind farms. However, without rising incomes and greater disposable incomes it will be some time before electricity be affordable by the rural communities. Transmission costs for small amounts of electricity over larger distances will remain a barrier to connecting wind turbines to the Grid. Studies have shown that there is a considerable quantity of peat existing in Rwanda, in the order of 155 million tonnes. However, there has been very little exploitation of peat due to technical and economic difficulties, and also possible environmental impacts. Other renewable energy sources, but so far not fully tapped, which could be harnessed to meet the growing energy requirements include solar and geothermal. Rwanda continues to rely on imported petroleum products; Electricity generation is mainly hydro-based, while thermal plants will soon provide 15 MW. Discussions on the development of Methane gas for electricity are on-going. The dissemination of renewable energy technologies has been limited to the promotion of improved stoves, improved charcoal production techniques, solar, biogas and to a lesser extent photovoltaic. Initiatives to increase utilisation of peat for electricity generation and windmills are being explored. Promising Energy Resources Rwanda has considerable opportunities for energy development from hydro sources, methane gas, solar and peat deposits. Untapped resources for power generation amount to about 1,200 MW. Most of these energy sources have not been fully exploited. As such, wood is still the major source of energy for 94 per cent of the population and imported petroleum products consume more than 40 per cent of foreign exchange.
Energy is a key component of the economy. It is thus recognised that the current inadequate and expensive energy supply constitutes a limiting factor to sustainable development. Rwanda s Vision 2020 emphasizes the need for economic growth, private investment and economic transformation supported by a reliable and affordable energy supply as a key factor for the development process. To achieve this transformation, the country will need to increase energy production and diversify into alternative energy sources. The Vision 2020 energy target is to have at least 35 per cent of the population connected to electricity (up from the current 6 per cent) and to reduce the rate of wood use in national energy consumption from the current 94 to 50 per cent (ROR 2000). Additionally, the PRSP aims to ensure a energy consumption growth rate of nearly 10 per cent per year, and a rural electrification rate of 30 per cent giving electricity access to 35 per cent of the population by 2020 (ROR 2007). The energy crisis in Rwanda Several indicators point to an energy crisis in Rwanda including: accelerated deforestation, a biomass energy deficit and deterioration in electricity generation and distribution systems. The major part of the energy consumed in Rwanda today still comes from wood (80.4 per cent). Yet studies carried out as far back as 1981/82 and 1989/90 already showed a gap of 3,000,000 m³ of wood for energy needs only (Privatisation Secretariat undated). As a result, there is massive deforestation across the country with consequent effects on the environment. Deforestation is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6: Forests and Protected Areas. The installed electricity generation capacity is extremely low at 72.445 MW from all categories (MININFRA 2009a). Only 2 per cent of the population has access to electricity, and there is a gap in national production of electricity of more than 50 per cent which is filled by electricity imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda (Privatisation Secretariat undated). Figure 1 shows the energy demand by sector, while table 1 shows the current electricity generating capacity in the country.
Types of Energy sources in Rwanda The energy sector in Rwanda is made up of three sub-sectors: power, hydrocarbon and new and renewable sources of energy. Amongst the renewable sources of energy are biomass, solar, peat, wind, geothermal and hydropower. Biomass is the most used and dominates both the demand and supply sides of the Rwandan economy. The current national energy balance of 86, 11 and 3 per cent of all energy consumed is used in the form of biomass, hydrocarbons and electricity, respectively. The power sub-sector ELECTROGAZ has been the sole integrated electricity supplier in the country. Rwanda imports electricity through cross-border interconnections of about 15.5 MW from the DRC and SINELAC and about 3MW from Uganda (MININFRA 2009a). Figure 3 shows the electricity distribution network in the country. Electricity is imported from Ruzizi I (a power plant belonging to DRC), Ruzizi II (a community power plant belonging to Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC) and from Uganda. In spite of these imports, there is a gap in electricity generation of about 50 per cent. By 2004
this amounted to about 380 MWh of electricity supplied (UNDP 2007). Figure 4 shows the electricity demand and supply by Electrogaz in 2004 and table 3 shows the electricity balance for Rwanda. Electricity shortage has necessitated regular load shedding. Load shedding is when power distribution companies switch off electricity supply to some clients. Frequent power shortage has resulted in individuals, manufacturing entities and firms purchasing their own generators. This has led to an increase in production costs of industry, a subsequent increase in consumer goods and increased emissions to the environment. Power shortages have also led to a 250 per cent increase in power prices from 48 to 120 Rwf per unit of power (UNDP 2007). At the times of this energy crisis, there was also a shortage of charcoal. Most of the shortage is caused by deforestation due to exploitation of forests for biomass energy. In order to meet demand Electrogaz purchased a number of diesel powered generators. By the second quarter of 2006 the cost of paying for the diesel was estimated to approximately US $65,000 per day. Although electricity is consumed mainly in urban areas, there are cost implications of these expenditures to the rest of the economy. Kigali alone consumes about 60 per cent of the entire generated electricity (UNDP 2007).
Solutions to the crisis: The solution to the problem the country is facing has to go with a good plan for a better tomorrow. So far, researches have been showing that relying on renewable energy and cleaner form of energy is the solution for a better future. The use of Geothermal Energy can contribute a lot on the crisis the country is facing. Within regard to national energy policy and many targets achievable at short term, contribution of geothermal resources to electricity production is projected to about 310MWe by the end of 2017 i.e. 30% of total electric power capacity. Recently,geothermal development program was highlighted and a 10MWe pilot project is expected to be launched soon in Northern Western areas(rubavu district) of the country. Such a scenario of a RDD stage is in line with the huge program of access to electricity services up to 30% of population. Geothermal exploitation is a new option to be introduced in Rwanda ; this why some preliminary stages before any wider deployment and diffusion are required: RDD systems such as this targeted unit at Bugarama of 10MWe resulting from an assembly of modular systems. In case of installing a 10MWe in Rubavu district and based on conventional steam turbines and a 10MWe in Bugarama and based on a modular binary option at lower temperatures, comparative lessons can be deducted from such different geothermal scenarios. Methane gas One of the biggest inputs into the electricity grid in the near future will be power generated from methane gas extracted from the bottom of Lake Kivu. It is estimated to contain about 55 billion m3 of dissolved methane gas (MININFRA 2009b). Lake Kivu offers the best alternative for energy because of its relatively low construction cost and low estimated operating costs and is a key government priority. The first efforts to utilise the methane deposits were undertaken in the late 1950s with 1.5 million cubic meters of gas being supplied annually to the nearby Bralirwa Brewery in Gisenyi. The plant was shut down in 2004.
According to a rough estimate, the methane potential in the Lake is equivalent to 40 million tons oil equivalent, which means an estimated 700 MW can be produced by power plants continuously at least over a period of 55 years assuming an extraction rate of one billion cubic meters of methane per year (MININFRA 2009b). Prior to current efforts to extract methane gas, extensive studies were conducted to evaluate potential environmental impacts and these included evaluation of leakage levels that would potentially contribute to global warming (MININFRA 2003). The results of the studies have guided the equipment design and other social and environmental management measures in the area. CNG Upon the insufficient electricity production, the country does not also have fossil fuels for automobile use or internal combustion fuel in general. What makes liquid fuels very expensive in the country. This issue is becoming much more difficult as the population and economy continue to increase; transportation of good and people increases on a high rate as well and is expected to continue to increase over the years. Due to this fact, huge amount of CO 2 is released in the atmosphere, what continue to affect the environment on a very high scale. Though, the conventional sources of energy are likely to finish soon, the country doesn t produce any of them. Alternatives have to be taken. So far, the country has been in biofuel researches, but they don t promise much. One the best solution the country can have, would be to switch to clean form of energy from natural gas as internal combustion Engine fuel. This fuel is Compressed Natural Gas. In this form, Natural Gas have to be compressed, hence the name Compressed Natural Gas. About CNG CNG stands for compressed natural gas. It is gaseous fuel and is a mixture of hydrocarbons mainly Methane. For use in Automobiles as fuel, it is compressed to a pressure of 200-250 Kg/cm² to enhance the vehicle on-board storage capacity. It is a clean, affordable, and an alternative to gasoline and diesel fuel.
As the world scales up of natural gas as a transportation fuel, this will resolve the problem of harmful emissive gases from combustion found in the case of the use of petrol & diesel as well it ll create much needed jobs and businesses to help move the economy forward. Natural gas has emerged as the most preferred fuel due to its inherent environmentally benign nature, greater efficiency and cost effectiveness. Compressed natural gas also surpasses gasoline on environmental standards, with 80% fewer carbon dioxide emissions. All kinds of vehicles can run on CNG by installing CNG kit. Kit is an assembly of many components required to run existing vehicle on CNG. There are few basic components which are common in all type of kits, irrespective of the vehicles; such as CNG storage cylinder, high pressure tube, pressure regulator, pressure gauge, change over switch, high pressure tube fittings, refueling receptacle and air fuel mixer. Conclusion The availability of energy resources plays a very important role in the development of any country. This make countries dependant on energy sources continue to develop more and those in lack, they keep on struggling striving to rise high. Rwanda as a country willing to develop and high hope for a better tomorrow, the use of alternative fuel and other clean form of energy resources would be the best solution as well as a promising one, for the good of the population and for the environment as well. This change will bring a very significant impact in the country, high development and reliable source of energy. Also, the energy crisis are not only restricted to Rawanda but has spread the whole world as the infrastructure development moves slowly comparative to power needs with growing population and indigenous commercialization.
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