What you should know about the Ruzizi III hydropower plant project
The Briefing Issue #43, Thursday, February 21, 2020
Dear Readers,
The Burundi Minister in charge of Finance signed this Thursday, a € 9.1 million subsidy agreement with the European Investment Bank for the preparatory work of the regional Ruzizi III hydroelectric project.
The project consists of the construction of a 147 MW Hydropower Plant on the Ruzizi river bordering DRC and Rwanda. It will be developed as a Public-Private Partnership, through a concession provided by the Governments of Burundi, DRC and Rwanda to the preferred investor (Sponsor), IPS-Black Rhino, to develop, finance, build, operate and maintain the plant.
Ruzizi III Hydropower Plant Project is the first regional power project in East Africa to be established as a public-private partnership (PPP).
Ruzizi III will be the third hydropower development on the Ruzizi river following the existing plants, Ruzizi I (29.8 MW) and Ruzizi II (43.8 MW). The Governments are responsible for the construction of all the necessary public infrastructure to evacuate the power to the three countries
By ensuring reliable and affordable electric power, the Ruzizi III Hydropower Plant Project will increase the region’s access to electricity by 300% thereby contributing to the sustainable socio-economic transformation of the region. As a regional project, the electricity generated will also feed into the East African Power Pool (EAPP).
The project will involve the construction of a 120m-long diversion dam, a 7km headrace tunnel with a head height of 110m, a 220kV switchyard, and a 10km transmission line to the Kamanyola substation in the DRC. The reservoir will have a storage capacity of 1.9 million cubic meters.
With an estimated project cost of $650 million to $700 million, Ruzizi III will produce power that is expected to cost $0.11 to 0.13 per kWh.
International financial institutions such as the World Bank, the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), Kreditanstalt Für Wiederaufbau (KFW), and French Development Agency (AFD) will fund 60% of the project cost.
AfDB authorized a $138m loan to support the development of the Ruzizi III hydropower plant in January 2016.
The EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU-AITF) approved a total technical assistance grant of €4.2m ($4.6m) for the project.
The project is expected to reach financial close in 2021 and is expected to be operational in 2025/2026. Once commissioned, Ruzizi III will double Burundi’s current capacity.
Fabrice Iranzi
Founding Editor, RegionWeek.com
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