The utility-scale solar power project to be built at Agahozo Shalom village will
be the largest in East Africa
Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, a model village located in Rubona Sector, Rwamagana District in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, is set to host the first utility large-scale solar power field in East Africa.
The model village, founded by the late Anne Heyman, is both a home and an education institution for hundreds of children, most of them orphans whose parents were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The first utility-scale solar power project in East Africa, worth about $24 million, was announced Monday by Yosef Abramowitz, the president of Gigawatt Global Cooperatief-a Dutch solar developer company that is partnering with Israel’s Energiya Global Capital to finance the building of an 8.5 megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant in Rwanda.
The plant is set to not only facilitate Agahozo Shalom Youth village but also increase Rwanda’s power generation capacity by about 8 percent.
Israel’s Energiya Global Capital provided the initial funding and strategic consultation to Dutch company Gigawatt Global Coöperatief, which has closed on $23.7 million in financing for the plant.
Other investors and funders include Norwegian development finance institution (Norfund), Norwegian-headquartered Scatec Solar, Dutch development bank (FMO), and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund.
The plant will be built at Agahozo Shalom youth village facilities in Rwamagana District. It is expected that the country will receive electricity from the plant through its national grid, Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA). Construction on the plant has started, and the plant is expected to begin operating late this year.
“It takes a global village to raise a solar revolution,” said American-Israeli entrepreneur and human rights activist Yosef Abramowitz, who is the president of Gigawatt Global and CEO of Energiya Global Capital.
“There are 550 million people in Africa without electricity. Economic growth in developing markets depends on access to affordable, green power. Environmentally-friendly solar energy is far less expensive than diesel-generated power.
This first-ever utility-scale solar field in Rwanda and all of East Africa represent the future of energy for developing countries and for island nations. It is a game-changer for humanity and the environment,” he added.
Israeli solar power is considered world class. American and Israeli universities have collaborated on renewable energy. In addition to launching Energiya Global, Abramowitz is a three-time Nobel Prize nominee and the co-founder of Arava Power Company.
“They are rolling out the red carpet for us in Africa,” says Abramowitz. “We looked at 75 markets around the world, which is half the planet that doesn’t yet have commercial solar power. There are 1.6 billion people on the planet today without electricity. Look at the hungriest people on the planet. Look at the ones who don’t have clean water. It’s the same people. It’s all preventable.”
The Agahozo Shalom youth village facilities in Rwamagana District
Israel President backs the mega project
As the government of Rwanda works to maintain access to electricity for 50 percent of the country’s population by 2017, Israel President, Shimon Peres said the new mega solar project will boost the country’s energy sector.
“As a pioneer in its sector and region, the solar field to be established in the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village is an important stride in our mission for Tikkun Olam—making the world a better place.
This wonderful initiative will serve as a shining beacon of hope and progress for humanity, and as an example of what Israel can contribute to the developing world. In the hope that Israeli renewable energy expertise can continue to serve developing communities around the world, I wish the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village much success on behalf of the State of Israel,” he said.
Rwanda- Israel relations
President Paul Kagame has personally built friend friendship with the state of Israel. According to the President, Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village symbolizes the wonderful relationship that exists between the Jewish state and the Rwandan people.
“In Rwanda we feel very much closely associated with Israel. We are happy to build on this, on these symbols of togetherness,” President Kagame said during one of his visits to Israel.
The President noted that there are similarities between the Tutsi and Jewish peoples since they were both the victims of racist dehumanisation by enemies possessing genocidal intentions.
President Kagame has visited Israel on more than one occasion. He was in Israel when the Jewish state celebrated its 60th birthday, as well as for the Presidential Conference marking Israeli President Shimon Peres’ 90th birthday.
While in Israel for Peres’ 90th birthday, Kagame visited Kibbutz Shfayim to meet with 30 Rwandan students presently in Israel to study agriculture as part of a special training program run by the Rwandan and Israeli agriculture ministries.
Anne Heyman’s legacy praised
Laurie Toll Franz, Agahozo Shalom Youth village’s newly elected board chair said of Anne Heyman that: “Anne Heyman, our founder of blessed memory, held to a vision in which the village practiced tikkun olam, the Jewish teaching to help heal the world.
In addition to our work with Rwanda’s most vulnerable children, we’re now helping to improve the lives of thousands of people through sustainable electricity generation.”
About Anne Heyman
Heyman who founded Agahozo Shalom Youth village with her husband in 2006, died earlier last month in a horse-riding accident in Florida, United States of America.
A native of South Africa, Heyman was once Manhattan’s Assistant District Attorney. She defended the rights of New Yorkers.
She was dedicated to helping children orphaned in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.
Motivated by Israeli youth villages that took in Holocaust orphans, Heyman and her husband Merrin, set out to build a place where Rwandan orphans could go to live, study and help rebuild their country.
The couple raised $12 million through personal donations and contributions from friends, foundations and corporate sponsors.
Agahozo Shalom, a combination of Kinyarwanda and Hebrew (meaning a place to dry tears and live in peace) has 500 students. A least 250 students have since graduated from the school.
Heyman is survived by three children: Jason, Jenna and Jonathan and husband Merrin.
Agahozo Village has almost all amenities and facilities a school needs, such as library, gymnasium, resource centre, amphitheater, computer labs, science centre, playground, green houses, community centre among others. In addition, the village has land for farming and vocational training.