RPCL is intentional to enhancing regional collaboration among eastern African utilities. Since Rusumo power plant started generation, multiple meetings are being organized in order to harmonize protections setting and operation procedures. From the 24th to 27th June, 2025, a team of Protection Experts from SINELAC, REGIDESO, TANESCO, SNEL, REG and RPCL met in Rusumo to evaluate the level of implementation of recommendations made during previous protection meetings and to debate on disturbances and challenges occurred in their respective grids affecting the interconnected electrical system. The meeting was invited by SINELAC’s (International Society of the Great Lakes Countries) and was chaired by Eng. Mpozenzi Dieudonné, Chief of operators in MURURU II Substation/SINELAC.
The Experts discussed mainly on how to harmonize protection settings in their respective plants and substations of the interconnected network in order to improve the reliability and stability of the system. They exchanged on the best practices to enhance collaboration among utilities, to address and stabilize the frequency, Utilities were urged to fix their respective internal trip faults which cause disturbances or tripping in the interconnected electrical network and to set reliable under frequency and apply load shedding scheme when needed to avoid tripping which affect the grids of member states’ utilities.
For human and technical reasons, the meeting reiterated that a proper maintenance of transmission lines be done especially by replacement of defected insulators and corridors’ clearance to minimize earth faults in transmission lines observed frequently during the rainy season.
The meeting was also an opportunity to the participants to discuss on the need of improving the communication between operators of plants and substations in case of disturbance caused by voltage or frequency fluctuations or network collapse; each utility should improve its telecommunication system and SCADA for better and reliable communication.
For knowledge exchange, the meeting was concluded with a site visit to Rusumo power plant and its Substation with a thorough discussions review of the facility’s installation and protection settings made. It is to be noted that from Rusumo switchyard, departure three 220kV transmission lines to national grids of REGIDESO, REG and TANESCO respectively and the power is independently supplied to the grids as the fully synchronization of the three grids still under analysis as well as the black start mode in Rusumo.
