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Thousands of people as well as SMEs are set to benefit from this project Uganda is to construct nine mini hydropower plants across seven rural areas with a combined capacity of 6.7MW. In making the announcement this week, the head of the government-owned Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company (UECCC) decried the country’s lack of adequate infrastructure to transmit all the electricity the country produces. The UECCC’s main objective is to provide financial, technical and other support for renewable energy projects and programmes. The ORIO Mini Hydro Power Project also entails the construction of a 288km local distribution network in the project area. It is envisaged that the mini-hydropower plants will serve up to 71,081 households and 2,300 SMEs. The area it will cover includes Kasese, Bushenyi, Mitooma, Hoima, Kabarole, Bunyangabu and Bundibugyo Districts and will be constructed as a single project. The UECCC said the plants will provide a “captive, stable and reliable source of power for rural electrification in the project area, which will mitigate the challenges of wheeling power over long distances.” It said the basis for selecting the project sites was “high social return in terms of rural electrification and not commercial viability.” Hydropower project funding The project is being funded by the ORIO Infrastructure Fund (now Invest International) of the Netherlands Government and co-financing from the Government of Uganda. The UECCC said it mobilised a grant of €13.1 million (around $13.6m) from Invest International for the project. The grant agreement for the construction phase of the project was executed between the two governments in June 2017 and expires in June 2027. Surplus energy Uganda’s capacity to transmit all the power it generates could eliminate surplus or idle energy, said UECCC Managing Director Baguma Nyamutale. “If the country had adequate infrastructure to transmit generated electricity, there would be no surplus,” he was quoted by local media as saying. Uganda currently generates around 2,048MW of electricity, with peak consumption at 863MW. Contractors appointed for the hydropower project in Uganda In August 2024, UECCC announced that it had appointed two contractors to implement the project. HNAC Technology from China will implement the civil and hydro-mechanical works, and Ossberger from Germany will design, manufacture, supply, and install the electro-mechanical works for the project. Groundbreaking is expected on 1 February 2025 in the Mitooma District, said the UECCC. |
