Kigali, November 9^th 2016- The Minister of State in Charge of Energy, Water and Sanitation, Germaine KAMAYIRESE received a delegation from Ethiopia led by WONDIMU Tekle, the State Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity. The Delegation comprised key officials and staff from Ethiopian federal government and regional energy agencies.

In her welcome remarks, Hon. Germaine KAMAYIRESE highlighted the target set by the Government of Rwanda “to ensure that by 2018, 70% of Rwandans have access to electricity and 100% by 2020.

The discussions between the two officials focused on how the two countries can promote the use of Biogas as a sustainable and cost effective source of energy that would lead to the transformation of lives of people living most especially in rural areas.

Currently over 10,216 biogas digesters have been disseminated in households and 81 in institutions like prisons and schools by 46 local companies. The installations cost for domestic biogas is paid on a 50/50 cost sharing principle between the beneficiary and the Government. The beneficiary can pay his/her part on his/her own revenues or get a credit from local Saving and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) through the MoUs signed between the Government and the SACCOs.

The National Domestic Biogas Program (NDBP) has been decentralized to the District level with Rwanda Energy Group (REG) providing technical support (trainings, quality assurance, etc.) in collaboration with stakeholders like SNV and fully funded by the Government of Rwanda. To make sure the programme is owned by local authorities, Biogas Programme has been incorporated in the performance contracts of the Districts.

SNV as one of stakeholders in this area has committed to training 2 young technicians per sector under the Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE) Project to construct digesters, hence empowering Rwandans to take ownership of their development. In the OYE framework, the biogas technicians are organized into district biogas cooperatives or private biogas companies.

Through shared experiences, WONDIMU Tekle, the Minister of State in charge of energy, irrigation and electricity - Ethiopia commended the efforts made by the Government of Rwanda in promotion of biogas and energy in particular, committed to apply the same model as the best practice and engaging private sector players through Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to enhance biogas promotion in an integrated manner with other renewable energy solutions like solar home systems.

Rwanda and Ethiopia committed to working together to promote energy access in rural areas.