Uganda's Rural Electricity to be funded by Obama's initiative

Uganda's Rural Electricity to be funded by Obama's initiative

Uganda is expected to have 100 electricity mini grid sites constructed in areas that cannot have access to the main electricity power grids.

The 400 mini grid stations will be funded under former US President Barrack Obama’s Power Africa Initiative will have over 140,000 new electricity connections to areas currently not connected to electricity.

Power Africa coordinator, Andrew Herscowitz, this week handed over the mini grid master plans to Energy and Mineral Development Minister, Irene Muloni. The Master Plans have identified three rural electricity service territories to be used to connect electricity to areas with no grid access.

The Master Plans identified 140,000 potential new connections and over 100 mini-grid sites to be used to tap to grid extensions and off-grid projects. Mini grids are becoming popular in most parts of Africa because of their potential to decentralize electricity supply or what is known as rural electrification in Uganda.

Uganda has for the past ten years pursued an ambitious plan to increase power generation. While access to electricity in Uganda has rapidly increased over the past few years, more than 90% of Uganda’s population still lives in darkness according to Rural Electrification Agency (ERA). The Agency says less than 7% of the rural population has electricity service.

With an ambitious target of achieving universal access to electricity by 2030, Uganda has been exploring mini grids for electrifying communities away from the grid – typically harnessing energy from available solar, wind, hydro and biomass.

Herscowitz said the Master Plans handed to government will play a fundamental role in achieving the Government of Uganda’s 2013-2022 Rural Electrification Strategy and Plan.

“The Government of Uganda is an important Power Africa Partner that is supporting a predictable investment environment that attracts private sector interest in the energy sector. We look forward to using the momentum from Uganda’s Power Africa to support Uganda’s electrification efforts,” said Herscowitz in a statement.

Energy and Mineral Development Minister Irene Muloni said Uganda is looking forward to working with Power Africa to extend electricity to most rural Uganda.

“As we look to the future of Power Africa, Uganda is ready to tap into all of its resources, including human resources along with the water, wind, sun, gas, and steam that will power our economy,” said Muloni

Engineer Muloni said Uganda appreciates the partnership of the US government, and welcomes the investment from outside developers and investors in the Energy sector.

Power Africa initiative was launched by former US President Barack Obama in Tanzania during his Africa Tour in July 2013. The initiative aims at supporting economic growth and development by increasing access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable power in Africa.

The Power Africa 2017 Annual Report released this week highlighted that the initiative has facilitated power transactions expected to generate more than 7,200 megawatts and supported private sector companies and utilities to connect over 10 million homes and businesses.

It said the US initiative has so far helped connect more than two million homes and businesses to such sources.

The annual report cites additional progress toward Power Africa’s revised and expanded goal of supporting the installation in several countries of 30,000 megawatts of generation capacity and 60 million new electricity connections by 2030.