Uganda okays 108.5 MW of renewables under FiT - report

Oct 23, 2014 - Uganda has given the green light to 108.5 MW of renewable energy projects under phase I of the Global Energy Transfer for Feed-in-Tarrifs (GET-FiT) programme, while the winner of a 50-MW solar deal is to be announced soon.

All approved power plants, most of which are small hydropower stations, will be completed and put online between 2015 and 2018, news agency Bernama said today. According to the report, their operators will get subsidies of up to USD 0.02 (EUR 0.016) per kWh thanks to the financial support of Norway, the European Union (EU), Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), Germany and the World Bank.

Uganda is putting increased efforts into expanding the country’s power generation capacity as demand for electricity is growing by 10% to 12% annually, Benon Mutambi, head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), told reporters. He mentioned that over a dozen companies are participating in a tender for a 50-MW solar project. The winner will be known in a month, Mutambi was cited as saying.

Uganda can currently produce up to 890 MW. Yet, less than 500 MW of the power generation capacity is available at present, due to restrictions in water use, Bernama said. The country needs to reach some 42,000 MW of power capacity, using hydro, oil and gas, geothermal and nuclear energy, to turn into an upper middle income country by 2040.

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