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USTDA Awards Grants For Power Africa Projects in Tanzania and Rwanda

USTDA Awards Grants For Power Africa Projects in Tanzania and Rwanda

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded two grants to support the development of hydropower in Tanzania and Rwanda. These activities build upon USTDA’s long history of connecting U.S. industry to priority clean energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. They also support the goals of Power Africa, a U.S. government-led initiative to increase electricity access across the continent.

“USTDA is proud to continue its leadership on Power Africa with these new grants,” said Agency Director Leocadia I. Zak. “These projects will employ U.S. expertise to help develop reliable, affordable power in Tanzania and Rwanda.”

USTDA provided a grant to Kastan Mining PLC, a Tanzanian company, to support the development of two 10 Megawatt (MW) run-of-river hydropower facilities that will supply power to Tanzania’s public utility and to villages in the Lukosi River Basin area. The project will evaluate the technical and financial aspects of the facilities by providing recommendations on standardized hydropower plant configurations. The feasibility study will be undertaken by U.S. technical consulting company Knight Piesold & Co. (Lisle, IL).

“Kastan is proud to lead this effort to meet the energy needs of villagers in the Lukosi River Basin,” said Mr. John Tate, Kastan’s Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working with our partners to develop these hydropower facilities, which will be operated by the Ruaha River Power Company Limited.”

The second grant is supporting the efforts of DC HydroPower Ltd., a Rwandan energy company, to develop two run-of-river hydropower plants in northwest Rwanda. DC HydroPower has selected Ritoch-Powell & Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc. (Phoenix, AZ) to provide technical assistance to help develop the Rwaza I and Rwaza II hydropower plants. The plants, which will install a combined 3.6 MW of new electricity generation capacity, will help electrify over 7,000 households and businesses across the mountainous Musanze District. The grant agreement was signed by U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Donald Koran, and DC HydroPower’s Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Chad Bannick.

The project with DC HydroPower furthers USTDA’s commitment to deploying cleaner energy solutions in Rwanda, including supporting an ongoing feasibility study for the phased development of 12 MW in new run-of-the-river hydropower generation with Amahoro Energy.

www.ustda.gov

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