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Gigawatt Global plans 1,000 MW solar power in Africa by 2020
A farmer naps in a barley field next to an electricity power plant at Ashegoda farm near a village in Mekelle, Tigray, 780 km (485 miles) north of Addis Ababa, October 25, 2013. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Kumerra Gemechu
06/02/2015
KIGALI (Reuters) - Dutch company Gigawatt Global said on Thursday it will spend $2 billion to generate 1,000 megawatts of solar power in Africa by 2020 after launching the largest photovoltaic field in East Africa at a village in Rwanda.
African nations are racing to mobilise funds to invest in new power plants and utilities after decades of under investment left huge swathes of their populations without electricity.
Located 60 km (37 miles) outside the capital of Kigali, the solar field built at a cost of $23.7 million will produce 8.5 megawatts and increase Rwanda's power generation capacity by about 6 percent, said Yosef Abramowitz, Gigawatt's president.
The money was raised from equity investors and lenders, he said, and the government offered strong incentives to build.
Abramowitz said other countries such as Burundi could benefit from the planned power generation expansion.
Power from Rwanda's photovoltaic field will connect more people to the grid in the country of about 11 million people where only 22 percent of the population have access to electricity.
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