Senators have raised concerns over the snail’s pace in the implementation of government-funded energy projects.

Rwanda is depending on just 165.5 megawatts of power, which is below the government’s target of 563 megawatts by 2017.

The government continues to spend taxpayers’ money on studies meant to explore other sources of energy like peat, geothermal and methane gas.

Senators said plans to produce electricity using underground resources have stalled, costing the taxpayers billions of francs.

“We are wasting money and time trying to explore sources of energy that are not delivering to respond to the current need.

“If we added around 28 megawatts from Nyabarongo recently, why can’t we embark on a similar project to generate more energy using the same river?” Asked Senator Zephyrin Kalimba.

“The hydropower has proved to be cheaper and flexible in both generation and distribution. Why is the government importing electricity from neighbouring countries?” Asked Senator Tito Rutaremara.

Many energy projects have become white elephants due to small quantities of reserves.

Gishoma peat plant, which was supposed to produce at least 15 megawatts became a white elephant after it emerged that it had fewer reserves that can barely last four years.

“We are working with the authority on all environmental issues as we seek to extract peat from other areas of the country,” said Germaine Kamayirese the State Minister in charge of Energy.

Another project that has delayed in adding power to the national grid as was expected is Kivu Watt Methane Gas, which was supposed to generate at least 30 megawatts of energy.

The government has spent at least Rwf123.3 billion in methane gas projects that is yet to add electricity to the national grid.

This prompted the government to look for an investor for the Kivu Watt 2 project, which has the capacity to generate at least 25 megawatts.

“The current investor has managed to build the plant, but he failed to use available technology to extract gas from the reserves, we have decided not to push him hard since he is the one covering the expenses,” she said.

However, this according to senators, will need due diligence the government but noted that it could take long.

“It seems the investor is also buying time doing research on the best way to generate power from the available methane gas, but what if it goes wrong and we end up paying heavily on catastrophes caused while digging?” Asked Senator Chrysologue Karangwa.

Ms Kamayirese, however, said the government has commissioned lake Kivu monitoring committee to work closely with the investor on the likely negative implications of the project.