The photo is sourced from constructionreviewonline.com
The power to be generated by six turbines (100 MW each) will be fed into the public grid by three power transmission lines. One of them, 248 kilometres long, will supply the city of Kawanda near the capital Kampala; the other two (55 and 80 kilometres respectively) will supply Olwiyo and Lira in the north. The construction of the transmission lines has been completed by 99.6% to date.
The installed hydropower capacity in Uganda is 1,001 MW, as says the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The project would raise that figure by 60%, i.e. to 1,601 MW, with the hydropower plants consolidating their leadership in the nation’s generation mix: in 2020, HPPs accounted for 86% of Uganda’s power generation, while diesel power plants (6%), bioenergy plants (6%) and solar panels (2%) accounted for the remaining 14%, according to Ember Research Centre. At the same time, electricity remains inaccessible to most of the citizens. According to the World Bank, only 42% of households were connected to the public grid in 2020.
The HPP construction remains one of the most common ways to address energy shortage in Africa. The region commissioned 10.2 GW of new hydropower capacity between 2012 and 2021. HPPs were second only to solar panels (an increase of 11 GW), well ahead of wind turbines (6.2 GW). At the same time, bioenergy plants are increasingly being used for off-grid power generation in Africa. For example, EcoFix has set up biofuel production from the fruits of croton, the tree growing in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The croton oil, having a higher ignition temperature than diesel fuel, can be used to fuel small power generators.
