Burundi to invest in thermal power stations as climate change and unsustainable agroculture hints at hydroelectric facilities.
The level of hydroelectric power station reservoirs is falling as a result of climate change and agricultural encroachment. This is reducing Burundi’s hydroelectric production. In an attempt to compensate for this drop, the Régie de Production et de Distribution d’eau et d’électricité du Burundi (REGIDESO) is resorting to thermal power stations, despite their greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, the energy deficit remains. As a result, Burundians experience load shedding and untimely power cuts on a daily basis, which slows down the country’s economic development.
Dry spillway, Pebbles colonised by grass lined up one after the other and level of the lake at Rwegura hydropower station in decline…. In February 2024, the level of the lake fell by around seven metres (7m).
“Before the lake receded, pebbles were invisible. Nobody knew the shape of the funnel. We could only make out its boundary stones.”, says Jonas, an elderly man in his sixties who lives on the Rwegura hill.
Fed mainly by the Gitenge and Mwokora rivers, Rwegura lake, which lies in the north of the country around 110 km from the economic capital, Bujumbura, “often fills up in February and April”, reveals Elie, a resident of Rwegura. That’s not the case this year.
In eight years, Elie remembers seeing the lake fill up until it emptied into the funnel only twice, in 2016 and 2022.
“We are astonished to see the level of Lake Rwegura drop even during periods of high rainfall.”, says Édouard Nduwayo, a resident of Rwegura.
According to Ir. Willy Ciza, Director of Renewable Energies at the Ministry of Hydraulics, Energy and Mines: “For a power station with a dam, electricity is produced according to the amount of water stored. More water means more electricity. To meet demand, we draw heavily on stored water. If we continue to use the Rwegura dam as we are doing, the lake will not be full.”
According to Willy Ciza, Lake Rwegura is declining as a result of over-exploitation of the power station due to the growth in the number of electricity consumers. The annual report published in March 2023 by the Institut National des Statistiques du Burundi (INSBU) supports his view. It shows that the number of electricity consumers rose from 15 571 in 1995 to 163 373 in 2021.
The drop in Lake Rwegura’s water level can be explained by human activity and drought, according to Professor André Nduwimana, a lecturer and researcher at University of Burundi in the Faculty of Agronomy and Bioengineering.
“Looking at its hydrological regime, the Rwegura catchment area is fed by the Gitenge and Mwokora rivers. These two rivers are fed by run-off and seepage water.The problem now, according to a study carried out in 1995, is that when deforestation and tea plantations were introduced, these activities greatly reduced the infiltration phenomenon. Now we have run-off water. And when there’s a drought, you understand that this water that leaves is not compensated for. So the level and volume of water in the lake has fallen.”
In 2017, the drop in the lake’s water level led to electricity production of 4 MW out of the 18 MW originally forecast. “You understand that this is a huge loss for the country.”, he regrets.
According to Nduwimana, the agricultural incursions have not respected a certain distance from this basin, “especially as we are in a forest reserve”. Here, he talks about Kibira National Park.
The study of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change conducted by Salvator Sunzu Ntigambirizwa, Expert in charge of Planning and Projects at Great Lakes Energy (EGL), concludes that the over-exploitation of the Rwegura power station when the other power stations are shut down and climate change are responsible for the drop in the level of Lake Rwegura.
16 years ago, in 2008, the over-exploitation of the Rwegura hydroelectric power station combined with the effects of climate change led to a drop in the level of the Rwegura dam by around 10 m, “which was to reach the level of the water intake level of 2140.50 m, and cause the power station to shut down.”, explains Ir. Salvator Sunzu Ntigambirizwa.
As predefined by the dam builders in 1986, the level of the lake should rise to 2152.20 m.
To date, the Rwegura power station remains a typical state-of-the-art facility with a reserve capacity of 6 MW according to the Burundi Renewable Energy Association website. It cannot produce its maximum output of 18 MW all day long.
Burundi’s main hydroelectric power station, Rwegura’s electricity production has developed in fits and starts. According to the annual report of Burundi’s national statistics institute (INSBU), electricity production at the Rwegura hydroelectric power station fell from 63,732,800 Kwh in 2012 to 35,241,000 Kwh in 2017, before rising to 73,929,590 Kwh in 2021.
