Rwanda - Energy and power



Rwanda imports all of its petroleum products from Kenya. The parastatal PETRORWANDA controls 40–45% of the market for petroleum imports. These included, in 1994, average daily imports of 1,880 barrels of distillates, 750 barrels of gasoline, 300 barrels of jet fuel, and 190 barrels of kerosene. Before the civil war, about 1 million cu m of methane gas was extracted from Lake Kivu each year; the gas was either used by the brewery in Gisenyi or converted into compressed fuel for trucks. Rwanda has an estimated 60 billion cu m of natural gas reserves and 6 billion cu m of peat reserves, which could also be used as a domestic energy resource.

Rwanda's electrical energy derives chiefly from hydroelectric sources. Electricity production in 2000 totaled 113 million kWh, of which 2.7% was from fossil fuels and 97.3% from hydropower. Consumption of electricity in 2000 was 174.1 million kWh. Most of the country's electric power comes from four hydroelectric stations. Additional power is imported from the DROC. Total installed capacity in 2001was 31,000 kW, almost all of it hydroelectric. In 1983, a $63-million hydroelectric station was constructed on the Ruzizi River, on the border with the DROC.

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