Energy situation in Rwanda

The essential actors in the energy sector

Following the events of 1994, Rwanda's energy sector has been reorganized and restructured. It is at present under the responsibility of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Natural Resources (MINERENA), which was created in 1999. It consists of:

• a planning department;

• a water department;

• a mine and geology department;

• an administrative and financial services department;

• an energy department (DGE), composed of about ten specialists who are organized in thematic sections (electricity, methane gas, peat, new and renewable energies, solar thermal energy, biomass, photovoltaic, micro hydroelectricity) (cf. source documents 3.4, 3.5, 3.6). Its tasks are:

- To implement the orientations of the energy policy;
- To coordinate the activities within the energy sector;
- To plan and supervise strategies for the development of the energy sector.

It works within the framework of old laws, which for the most part date from the 1920s-1950s or 1970s.

The production, the transport and the supply of electricity, water and gas is under the responsibility of the public company Electrogaz (under the authority of the MINERENA), which is being privatised with the assistance of the World Bank.

Photo J-C Scholle

Electrogaz: a public company being privatised

Among the other actors existing until the events of 1994, the company Socigaz, co-owned by the Rwandan government and the Democratic Republic of Congo, was responsible for the management of the methane resources of Lake Kivu. As regards the imports of oil products (representing 40 % of the export receipts) and their storage, they were mainly managed by the company Petrorwa, which was controlled by the State. Micomart implemented the policy for oil products and fixed their price at the pump (cf. source document 3.13).

All the actors and institutions and the administrative frame of this sector are also being rehabilitated, restructured and reorganized. The total or partial privatisation concerning the exploitation of energy resources - large power, the production of electrical energy and transport are the subjects of studies by the World Bank.

National goals and energy policy in Rwanda

The missions that the national governmental authorities have set themselves in the field of energy are the following (cf. documents 3.4, 3.5):

• To ensure a better use of the energy resources for the socio-economic advancement, the improvement of the citizens' well-being and quality of life;

• To facilitate the population's access to a cheap energy source;

• To reduce energy deficit;

• To manage well the energy resources in the protection of the environment;

• To privatise the investment of the energy sector for the centralized electrical production of power higher than 1 MW.

Last updated on 12.03.2009
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12 pages: .1. .2. .3. .4. .5. .6. .7. .8. .9. .10. .11. .12.

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