- Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has commissioned the Isimba hydropower station, which is adding 183MW of electricity to the national grid.
- The dam is expected to reduce the cost of power from the current $8 cents per kWh, to $5 cents per kWh making it the cheapest in the region.
Uganda Electricity Generation Company (UEGCL) has reassured the country that the Isimba plant will generate the cheapest electricity in East Africa, reports The Independent.
The dam is expected to reduce the cost of power from the current $8 cents per kWh, to $5 cents per kWh making it the cheapest in the region.
“The electricity costs; you don’t have to worry about that because we expect it to go down after completion of the many dams we are constructing,” Museveni said while commissioning the new Simba cement factory in Tororo District.
The Isimba hydro plant is located 4 km downstream from Simba Falls on the Nile River. At Isimba, the river splits into two branches, with the channels joining through Koova Island. Thus, various project structures span the left river channel, the island and the right river channel. The powerhouse on the left river channel contains four vertical Kaplan turbine-generator units.
The dam is complete with a 132kV, 42km double circuit transmission line to transmit the generated power to the Bujagali Power station, hence making it ready for distribution. The government is pinning its growth on the new dam and the 600MW at Karuma to boost the country’s economic growth agenda.
“This economy hinges on electricity. Without it, we cannot have economic development,” said Harrison Mutikanga, the chief executive officer of UEGCL.
Author: GBA News Desk/ESI-Africa Contributor
This article was originally published on ESI Africa and is republished with permission with minor editorial changes.
