(CNN) It's billed as the fastest infrastructure project ever built in Africa.

Only one year passed from signing the agreement to construct the 8.508 megawatt solar plant east of Rwanda's capital Kigali to full production.

"We chose Rwanda because there was a real need and a strong business case," says Chaim Motzen, co-founder of Gigawatt Global, the company which built the plant, and the driving force behind the venture.

"At project inception, there were only 110 megawatts on grid - of which approximately 40% were diesel - for a population of 12 million people," he adds.

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