The first utility-scale solar power field in East Africa will be built on land belonging to a Jewish-sponsored youth village in Rwanda.
The nearly $24 million project was announced Feb. 17 by Yosef Abramowitz, president of Gigawatt Global Cooperatief, which arranged for its financing.
Construction has already started on the solar field on land belonging to the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. The village for orphans from the 1994 Rwandan genocide was founded by the late Anne Heyman.
The solar field will feed electricity into the national grid under a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Rwanda Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority. It is expected to be operational this summer.
Abramowitz called the solar field, which will provide an 8 percent increase in the country’s energy supply, “a game-changer for humanity and the environment.”
The youth village is leasing land to the solar facility and will use the proceeds to fund its charitable mission.
Heyman died earlier this month in a horse-riding accident in Florida. — jta