It will interconnect the electric grids of the Nile Equatorial Lakes (NBI) countries, including Burundi, Uganda, DR Congo and Rwanda. Kigali, 5 December, 2019: Minister of Infrastructure Hon. Claver GATETE, together with the Ambassador of Germany to Rwanda Dr. Thomas KURZ and the Africa Development Bank Country Director Martha Phili, inaugurated Shango substation located in Nduba Sector, Gasabo District in City of Kigali. The ceremony was. also attended by different Government officials and Security organs

Shango substation was built to interconnect the electric grids of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Uganda. The 220/110kV substation has two 220kV lines bays to interconnect with Uganda networks, two 220kV line bays to interconnect with Northern Eastern DRC network through Rubavu substation and two 220kV line bays to Western Tanzania network through Regional Rusumo Falls hydropower plant.

During the guided tour of the facility, it was noted that the construction of Shango substation falls into the Power Interconnection Program aiming at interconnecting the electric grids of the Nile Equatorial Lakes (NBI) countries, including Burundi, Uganda, DR Congo and Rwanda.

The project seeks to improve the living conditions of the people, as well as the quality of the socio-economic development environment of the region, based on the availability of affordable electric energy and communities’ access to electricity through increased cross-border electric power trade.

The Minister of Infrastructure, Claver GATETE appreciated the achievement and said that this project is part of a bigger plan to ensure ­that the Rwanda’s electricity supply meets the increasing demand.

“This is an important milestone in our journey achieve universal access to electricity by 2024 as set in NSTI. Also, Rwanda’s industrial sector is growing very fast and this means that we need to be ready to supply this demand. This interconnection project is one of the strategies in place to make sure that we will meet the future demand” he noted.

According to the Minister Gatete, energy sector continues to grow in all chain of power supply, from electricity generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

“This project is therefore a milestone achieved as part of government commitment to have a balanced power supply, production and increased households' access”, he highlighted adding that “the inauguration of Shango substation brings the total substations countrywide to 28 with target to have 44 by 2024. Similarly, our installed capacity today is 225.5MW and the target is to have 556MW in the same period”.

The interconnection projects such as Shango substation are vital for regional power exchange and trading across boarders and hence access to cheaper power sources.

The Chief Executive Officer of REG, Eng. Ron Weiss appreciated REG technicians who worked on this substation saying that this is the first ever substation to be installed by REG technicians.

“The company that was hired to build this substation failed to complete the works and we terminated the contract. After the preparation of project sites and equipment handover, we engaged our in-house teams to work on the remaining electromechanical works at this substation; and now it is ready for the interconnection with Uganda network. The two other networks; one from DR Congo and another one from Tanzania will also be interconnected once completed” Weiss noted.

Shango Substation is part of the bigger plan to ensure a more reliable network across the country. It was built to strengthen transmission network and reduce power losses to ensure a better quality and reliability of electricity supply.

The project was meant not only to provide electricity and strengthening the national grid system but also create jobs, hence improving the lives and conditions of the people especially those ones around. Particularly, this will strengthen business in DRC in power transaction to boost our economic growth.

Shango substation was constructed with the support of development Partners, particularly the African Development Bank, the Germany Government through KfW and the Government of Netherlands. The total project cost is estimated at 13.8 Billion Frw (USD 14.8Million).