Weza Power, a new privately-owned and operated electricity distribution company, aims to bring grid power to almost 70% of the East African country’s population.
The new company was announced at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi and is the result of a multi-year development partnership between Virunga Power and the Government of Burundi.
Over a seven-year period, Weza Power will aim to connect 9 million people and will provide electricity to residential and business customers across peri-urban and rural Burundi, which has one of Africa’s lowest electrification rates.
According to Gridworks, only 12% of the country’s 12 million people currently have access to electricity, with that number falling to 2% in rural areas.
Most new household customers burn kerosene and charcoal for energy, while businesses have to rely on expensive and polluting diesel generators.
The new utility company will be connected to Burundi’s existing transmission network operated by REGIDESO, the state-owned utility company that will continue to generate power from clean, run-of-river hydropower, and supply distribution-level power to the country’s main urban areas.
The financing for the grid expansion and the creation of a new utility operator in Burundi will come from a blend of private and public funding, including commercial equity and debt, climate-based and other concessional funding, multilateral donor support and private grants.
Commenting on the announcement was Virunga Power CEO Brian Kelly, who called the project “an important milestone for Burundi and a catalyst for accelerating electrification more broadly in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The expansion of power distribution networks to reach unconnected populations with affordable grid power can be achieved by blending public, multilateral, and private sources of capital when paired with efficient private-sector led operations.
“While this is a common approach in developing and developed markets globally, Africa has lacked a locally-based model to follow, and Burundi’s willingness to take leadership with this approach is impressive and commendable.”