(1 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo – 23 May 2025
1. Alain Byamungu Chiruza, Chief Business Development Officer at Nuru, walks near some of the company’s solar panels
2. SOUNDBITE (French) Alain Byamungu Chiruza, senior director of business development, Nuru: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“The addition of solar energy has allowed the company to offer an ecological energy solution to the local population who had already had several years of inaccessibility to energy and thanks to this, (Nuru) has helped to transform lives but also businesses in the local community. We found that the cost that the population had to incur to obtain energy through embers, charcoal was much too high, as well as through diesel too, so solar energy has brought a lower cost of energy and a secure cost for electricity to local households and businesses.”
3. Mid of Chiruza walking inside the solar power plant
4. Wide of solar panels
5. Various of a carpenter working in his workshop which he powers partly with Nuru solar panels
6. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Mahamudu Bitego, welder:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“With generators, we spent about $15 daily if we worked a lot. Now with Nuru, it’s $10 daily and the electricity is better because there’s no breakdown requiring costly repairs.”
7. Wide of an electricity pole
8. Various – Mahamudu Bitego, a welder, at work in his workshop which he powers partly with Nuru solar panels
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Alain Byamungu Chiruza, senior director of business development, Nuru: ++COVERED++
“In terms of security, public lighting provides much more reassurance to the community. Thanks to public lighting, we offer the community the opportunity to continue their activities even at night without being too afraid of being attacked.”
10. Various of Nuru workers working in the Lac Vert neighborhood
11. Mid of Choma Choma Mayuto Banga setting up his TV
12. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Choma Choma Mayuto Banga, Goma resident:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“With street lighting, it’s easy to tell if someone with bad intentions is hiding somewhere, and it’s easy to escape. Today, we really have some security despite the current situation in the city. Because of this power supply, we’re seeing a bit of minimal security.”
13. Wide of the Ndosho neighborhood of Goma
STORYLINE:
In several Goma neighborhoods where almost everyone lacked access to electricity five years ago, a small solar network is offering a flicker of hope despite widespread poverty and the city’s violent takeover by Congolese rebels early this year.
Advocates believe it’s a model that can be successful throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond to electrify places where conflict and poverty have left people behind, using renewable energy to benefit those most vulnerable to climate change.
In 2017, utility Nuru built the DRC’s first solar minigrid in the small town of Beni in Congo’s North Kivu province. Provincial officials then asked them to consider Goma, near the Rwandan border, where only a small fraction of the population had access to electricity — usually from diesel-powered generators.
With investor backing, Nuru built the 1.3-megawatt microgrid — interconnected last year with a hydropower grid in Virunga National Park, north of Goma, to bolster resilience — that together power phone and internet service and a private company that pumps, treats and distributes water.
Tradespeople said they spend significantly less than before, when they had to pay someone to plug into their diesel generators.
—
AP Video by Justin Kabumba
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