Rwanda has signed a multi-million euro peat power plant deal with a Turkish company.
According to the €220-million deal signed on Tuesday, the project – which will be operated by Hakan Mining and Generation Industry and Trade – is expected to produce 100MW annually once it is running at full capacity.
"The implementation of the peat-to-power plant will result in about a 90% increase of the current total power generation in the country," Rwanda's Minister of Energy and Water Emma Isumbingabo said.
The plant is expected to reach full capacity around three to five years after it goes online. Construction is due to begin in 12 to 15 months.
The landlocked country estimates it has reserves of 155-million tons of dry peat, about three quarters of which is found near the Akanyaru and Nyabarongo rivers and the Rwabusoro plains.
That would be enough, the government says, to generate 450MW of energy for 25 years. – Reuters