Turn on Rwanda
By Perry Beeman | October 14, 2009 | Rwanda
Rwanda has a serious electricity shortage. The government acknowledges that the lack of power, good roads and safe water supplies hold back development here.
In 2007, 4.5 percent of the population had electricity, most of it from hydroelectric plants. The government wants to raise that to 30 or 35 percent by 2020, largely with hydro expansions and by burning methane from dumps and from an unusual, giant bubble sitting under Lake Kivu in the country’s volcano region.
Ben Beck of Des Moines, Ia., is doing his part. Beck is conservation director at Great Ape Trust of Iowa, which is doing chimpanzee research and conservation work in the Gishwati Forest area of northern Rwanda. The project is in cooperation with Rwanda’s federal and local governments. I’ve had a first-hand look over the past month.
In a meeting with local officials recently, Beck mentioned that he is trying to craft a small wind turbine using only materials readily available in Rwanda and at a cost of under $200. He’s doing this in his basement back in the States. Beck encouraged local-government representatives to try pilot projects involving wind energy, and they seemed to like the idea.
John Ndimubahire, Rutsiro district mayor, said he expects electrical service to come to his area next year.
On another stop, I saw a small solar panel behind a house in a village near Cyamudango Forest. A wire ran into the house, with bare splices in places, across one room and into what seemed to serve at the living room. There, the wire connected to a bulb about the size of what one might find in a lantern or large flashlight in the U.S. I never saw it lit, but I didn’t try to turn it on, either. Not sure there was a switch.
Where Rwandans do have electricity, they are far more aggressive about using compact fluorescent bulbs. I’ve seen more energy efficient bulbs here than I typically do in the states. They are sold in many city stores. Sometimes the bulbs don’t put off enough like for reading, but they are plenty to light the way through a room.
I’ve supplemented the electricity with a battery-powered headlamp that was a serious upgrade from one I had taken to Belize over the past several years. The lamp came in handy when we decided to track chimpanzees as the sun faded one day as it poured rain and mud oozed everywhere. I learned to keep it handy for power outages, too.
Next trip, I’ll find a far more wired Rwanda.
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