President Paul Kagame has said that Rwanda is exploring the idea of embracing modular nuclear reactors to facilitate in increasing the country’s energy generation.
The Rwandan leader made the revelation on Wednesday during an interview at the Columbia Global Energy Summit in New York that was broadcast online.
“Some partners have brought up the idea of modular nuclear reactors,” Kagame said, adding , “This is a new idea and we want to encourage it — in fact we are talking to the partners to see what we can do in Rwanda that will influence similar developments elsewhere.”
Kagame said that Rwanda is looking to increase access to electricity. Currently, access to electricity in Rwanda is at 61% and the target is to raise it to 100% by 2024.
Rwanda’s generation capacity stands at 276.068nMW and the target is to reach 556MW generation capacity by 2024 according to Rwanda Energy Group, a government-owned holding company responsible for the import, export, procurement, generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity in the country.
In a broader scope, about 600 million people on the continent lack access to electricity, while demand is expected to grow in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, according to the IEA’s Africa Energy Outlook 2022.
President Kagame said, the lack of access is a problem, but also an opportunity.
He also noted a “huge imbalance” between the continent, which is responsible for about 3% of global emissions, and foreign countries that rushed to Africa for fossil fuels after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“First we need energy. For us to see growth, to realize middle or high income status without electricity access is just not possible,” President Kagame said.
Kagame assured the summit delegates that Africa is full of investment opportunities that should be tapped into.
“I want to assure you that Africa is no riskier place for investment than other parts of the world. When you come to Rwanda you know what to expect. I think this is key for sustainable success of any country,” said President Kagame.
