Volume I: Investment Prospectus Rwanda Electricity Sector Access ...

Estimates of the capital cost of the major components of the access programme are shownin Table 5.2. This table shows the capital costs of rolling out the distribution network toachieve the required connections derived from the geospatial planning exercise, as well as thecapital costs of off-grid solutions where those are more efficient.The cost per kilometre of new MV line is initially estimated to be around US$55,000, afteraccounting for available cost reductions. These costs are expected to fall to US$35,000 perkilometre by 2013 as new material suppliers are established in Rwanda and as the programmegains procurement experience. The costs of connecting low voltage customers have beendivided into “infill connections” (where low voltage networks already exist), and “expansionconnections” (which will require additional medium voltage infrastructure within the supplyarea). A breakdown of the projected cost per connection in the access programme andexpected cost reductions is provided in the Technical Annex, Sections 3 and 4.Table 5.2: Capital Cost Components of Electricity Access Programme (US$ million)Programme Component Unit Cost 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013Network extensions 1Low voltage connections$55,000/km$35,000/km23.5 24.1 20.6 22.7 13.3– Infill connections 2 $350/conn. 10.4 10.0 9.9 11.1 11.0– Expansion connections $440/conn. 1.5 16.3 16.6 17.8 18.6– CFLs $1.82/CFL 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4Network strengthening 3 US$65/MWh 1.5 4.1 7.1 10.2 11.8Off-grid connections– Micro-hydro schemes 4 $3,000/kW 4.1 9.2 16.7 16.9 7.3– Solar PV electrification 5 $20,000/kW 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 0.7Solar Hot Water $1,250/unit 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 0.0Technical Assistance Various 7.3 7.3 5.4 5.4 3.2Total 56.1 78.9 84.2 92.1 66.3Notes: 1 Initial MV line costs are estimated to be US$55,000/km. Costs are expected to fall by US5,000/km ineach year of the programme, reaching $US35,000/km in 20132 The connection costs quoted in the table are an average of per household connection costs for 2009–2012. These costs increase during the access programme as more remote communities are targeted forgrid electrification3 The network is assumed to require further strengthening (for example, upgrading line capacities andconductor sizes) as additional load (MWh) is added under the access programme4 Average cost of micro-hydro generator and mini-grid distribution infrastructure. Actual costs varydepending on size of micro-hydro generator and the population density in the service area5 Includes the capital cost of solar PV units only (i.e. excludes operations and maintenance of PV units)To put the costs of the access programme into context, Table 5.3 (below) summarises theper household capital costs of the access programme. Connection costs start at around45