Mubuga Solar: A Blueprint for Independent Power Producer-Led Energy Growth in Burundi

Power Africa
6 min readDec 11, 2024

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Power Africa supports Burundi’s first utility-scale clean energy project

A large solar plant with thousands of panels installed on a hill.
The Mubuga Solar Plant is located just 15 kilometers from Gitega — Burundi’s second-largest city and political capital. Photo Credit: Light Habyarimana for Power Africa

Nestled in the hills of the Mubuga settlement deep in up country Burundi, the Mubuga Solar Plant stands as a beacon of progress. Located just 7 kilometers from Gitega — Burundi’s second-largest city and political capital — this expansive facility features solar panels spanning an area equivalent to six soccer fields. Harnessing the abundant sunlight, it delivers clean, reliable energy to approximately 80,000 Burundian households and small businesses. The plant boosts the country’s generation capacity by 15%, and provides 100% of the capital’s power needs during the day.

Understanding Burundi’s Energy Landscape

Burundi has long struggled with energy access, with only 12% of the population connected to the grid with frequent power outages — the national grid is old and not well-maintained, resulting in significant transmission and distribution losses of around 30%. In rural areas, this figure drops to 4%, leaving communities in the dark and stunting economic growth.

A pylon with solar panels behind it.
Only 12% of Burundians are connected to the grid; and only 4% in rural areas. Photo Credit: Hesca Joubert for Power Africa

“Despite a growing population and rising demand for electricity, limited grid reach and poor distribution hinder access, even as people are willing to pay for power,” explains Christian Nkengurutse, Economic Growth Specialist for USAID Burundi tasked with overseeing Power Africa’s work in the country.

Burundi’s energy landscape mirrors broader challenges across sub-Saharan Africa, where state-run utilities often struggle to keep up with demand due to resource mismanagement, technical limitations, and inefficiencies. These issues, along with political interference, frequent regulatory changes, and lack of transparency, discourage private sector investment in the energy sector.

A Power Policy Pivot that Sparked Private Investment

In 2015, Burundi liberalized its energy sector with the hope of attracting private sector investment to increase its power generation capacity and accelerate energy access.

“The Government of Burundi introduced two laws pertaining to energy and public-private partnerships aimed at increasing domestic generation,” says Christian. “These new laws opened doors to independent power producers (IPPs) to utilize Burundi’s abundant natural resources, including hydroelectric and solar energy.”

Fast forward almost a decade later, Mubuga stands as Burundi’s first grid-connected, utility-scale solar project developed by an IPP and the largest investment in their electricity generation sector in nearly 30 years (at the time of investment), proving that the liberalization of energy laws has indeed paid off.

An aerial view of a solar plant, inverters, and people doing a site visit.
Mubuga is Burundi’s first grid-connected, utility-scale solar project developed by an independent power producer. Photo Credit: Light Habyarimana for Power Africa

Proof of Concept: Mubuga’s Path to Increased Energy Access

The plant was constructed and is run by Gigawatt Global, an American-owned Dutch developer and one of Power Africa’s founding private sector partners. This project is the first of many power projects by Gigawatt Global and its partners in Burundi. It is also a part of a portfolio across a dozen sub-Sahara African countries.

Breaking ground in 2020, almost 200 temporary jobs were created during the construction of Mubuga, with approximately half held by women.

30-year-old Ertha Irakoze, a native from Gitega, is one of the women that has worked on the project since the very beginning.

Top left: Ertha Irakoze gives a safety briefing (other photos clockwise) before taking the Power Africa team on a tour of the plant. Photo Credits: Barney Mugabi and Hesca Joubert for Power Africa

A trained environmental scientist, she now oversees all health and safety aspects onsite. Intimately involved in the day-to-day operations of the plant, she explains that “now that the plant is operational, six employees and one intern work here full time. Mubuga’s roughly 25,000 solar panels require cleaning every two to three months to ensure maximum productivity. To clean the panels and cut the grass, we use between 50 and 70 members from the community, 20% of which are always women”.

A close up of a solar panel with a lot of dust on.
The panels are cleaned every two to three months to ensure maximum productivity. Power Africa visited just before the panels would be cleaned. Photo Credit: Hesca Joubert for Power Africa

She’s passionate about the several other key initiatives that are part of Gigawatt Global’s robust community outreach strategy: “Through this project, we’ve built classrooms and supported three local schools by providing supplies, covering tuition fees, and awarding scholarships. For the ninth-year students, we’ve even arranged additional tutoring to help them pass a critical exam.” She adds, “We’re also planting trees in the community, providing health insurance for 300 families, and constructing water drainage systems. For the Batwa people, we’ve provided land and farming equipment that they can use for 15 years, ensuring they have the tools to thrive”.

Sheep grazing with solar panels and inverters visible in the background.
Six employees and one intern work full time at Mubuga, and some local ‘residents’ help to cut the grass. Photo Credit: Barney Mugabi for Power Africa

In addition to this comprehensive community involvement, Mubuga diversifies Burundi’s energy mix — essential to safeguard one of Africa’s smallest countries against climate change impacts, particularly since current power generation relies heavily on hydropower that is vulnerable to drought — and provides 7.5 MW of its installed power generation capacity, which it is set to expand.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the plant in May last year, the President of Burundi, Évariste Ndayishimiye, and Gigawatt Global revealed plans to double the generation capacity at the existing site.

A Product of Partnership

A sign showing the name of a solar plant and partners involved.
Muguba was brought to life through the power of partnership. Photo Credit: Hesca Joubert for Power Africa

Behind Mubuga’s success is Power Africa: a U.S. government-led initiative that partners with private sector players, like IPPs, and governments to bring projects like this to fruition.

With the support of USAID and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Mubuga was able to reach financial close, securing the funds necessary to build the solar plant.

After construction, Power Africa’s support to Gigawatt Global continued with the U.S. Department of State’s advocacy efforts to resolve challenges in obtaining the generation license, thereby facilitating the receipt of payments from REGIDESO, Burundi’s electricity utility and the sole off-taker for power generated at Mubuga.

Mubuga’s Legacy in Burundi’s Energy Journey

As the first IPP project in the country, Mubuga’s success is paramount for further private sector investment and to help the country achieve its ambitious target to nearly quadruple installed capacity by 2040 using virtually 100% clean energy through hydropower and solar energy.

“As the first of its kind in Burundi, the project has a strong demonstration impact, building capacity within government and strengthening political buy-in and support for small-scale utility renewables, thereby establishing a more viable market for renewable energy projects in the country,” according to The Renewable Energy Performance Platform, which been supporting the project since 2016.

Mubuga’s success is already delivering dividends. Power Africa is now supporting another of our partners, Anzana Electric Group, with Burundi’s first IPP hydropower projects: the Ruvyironza Hydro Project and the Upper Mulembwe Hydro Project.

As Ertha says: “The best way to protect the environment and provide Burundians with electricity is through clean energy projects” like Mubuga.

A large solar plant with thousands of panels installed on a hill.
Photo Credit: Light Habyarimana for Power Africa

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Power Africa
Power Africa

Written by Power Africa

A U.S. Government-led partnership that seeks to add 30,000 MW and 60 million electricity connections in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 > https://bit.ly/2yPx3lJ

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