Muhabura Integrated Polytechnic College (MIPC) University students visited Nyabarongo I HPP. Hydro-power is the primary renewable source of energy in Rwanda that harnesses the power of the naturally flowing water streams and its potential is strongly by the hydrological regime. In 2024, the overall installed capacity of power was about 406.4 MW.
However, Nyabarongo I Hydroelectric Power Station is a 28 megawatts (38,000 hp) hydroelectric power station; located across the Nyabarongo River, near the settlement of Mushishiro, Muhanga District, in Rwanda’s Southern Province.

To enhance the technical skills of our students in Electrical Technology Department, the study visit is an additional asset. In this report, they gained technical skills, and challenges were detailed.
The students gained technical skills on:
• Operation of the different parts of dam;
• The main difference between tunnel and channel penstock;
• Different types of hydropower plant turbine (Francis, Pelton, Kaplan, etc.);
• Operation of MIV and bypass;
• Operation of various automatic control technologies like programmable logic control (PLC), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA);
• Operation of intelligent relay;
• Operation of different types of valves use in power plant;
• Energy transformation to obtain electricity;
• Different types of Power transformers (step-up, step-down transformer);
• Substation working principle (Protection, Switching, voltage stabilization, reactive power stability, loss reduction);
• Switching process of the substation;
• Different parts of the substation.
In short, this visit to Nyabarongo I HPP highlighted hydropower’s importance in sustainable development and provided students with practical knowledge for future energy sector careers.