Two teams selected for Ugandan solar power plants

The government of Uganda has selected two consortia to develop two 10 MW solar plants.

A consortium of Access Power MEA, of the United Arab Emirates, and Spain's TSK Electronica will build a 10 MW plant in northern Uganda. The team beat out competition from seven other bidders. The winning consortium bid at a tariff of US$16.38 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for a period of 20 years

The new facilities will be located 300 kilometres north-east of the capital Kampala in Soroti.

The total project investment is estimated at US$17 million. Financial closure is expected to be achieved by June next year and the new solar plant is scheduled to be operational by the end on 2015.

A second consortium of Italy's Building Energy Spa and Uganda's Simba Telecom Ltd will develop another 10 MW solar plant. The new facilities will be located in Tororo district.

The total project investment is estimated at US$15.5 million.

The two photovoltaic solar plant will have capacity to power about 80,000 homes.

Benon Mutambi, the chief executive of Uganda’s electricity regulatory authority, commented:

In addition to being quick to implement, solar projects can be built close to demand centres, thereby reducing transmission losses and stabilising the grid.

This two projects will help to increase electrification rates to the country. According to the world Bank only 15 per cent of Ugandans have access to power.