Huge solar plant beams power and hope to remote part of rural Uganda hit by blackouts
WHEN power goes out in the rural town of Soroti in eastern Uganda, shop manager Hussein Samsudin can only hope it will not go on so long that it spoils his fresh goods.
Another shop owner, Richard Otekat, 37, has to pay a neighbour hourly to use his generator during blackouts as he cannot afford to buy one himself, while others simply go without.
However, residents of the town, surrounded by thatched huts, rivers and grasslands, hope a new solar plant which went into operation last week, will bring an end to their electricity woes.
The $19-million (R267-million), 13ha solar plant – the first of its kind in East Africa – can produce 10 megawatts of power that is fed into Uganda’s national power grid.
The project is crucial as Uganda seeks new ways to bring electricity to the 80% of its 40 million population that lacks access to power.
Uganda Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) acting head Ziria Tibalwa Waako said: “We are an agricultural economy, the majority live in rural areas.”
She said the main source of energy available to most Ugandans was firewood, while others used charcoal and gas, as electricity was just too expensive at about $0.15 (R2.11) a unit.
It is hoped the introduction of power from the solar plant into the national electricity grid – fed by hydro power and independently run diesel generators – will bring the price down.
Otekat said: “Power is costly. It eats into our profit margin.”
Samsudin, tired of melting ice-cream and meat going off, said: “Unfortunately when power is not there for six hours, that is an automatic loss we are expecting.
Eren Renewable Energy vice-president Christophe Fleurence said: “The plant will provide clean, low-carbon, sustainable electricity to 40 000 homes, schools and businesses in the area.”
Eren is one of two private companies operating the plant, funded by EU partners.
Fleurence said Soroti, about 300km from Kampala, was where the sun was brighter than anywhere else in Uganda.
The country has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa, according to Climatescope, the clean energy country competitiveness index.
While the solar plant could ensure that businessmen like Samsudin and Otekat have a more steady power supply, those who are not yet connected to the national grid or cannot afford electricity at all, are unlikely to benefit soon.
And the wait for electricity can prove dangerous.
Official Edward Esegu said: “People use firewood to light their houses because paraffin is very expensive to some households.
“We have had cases of people’s homes burnt, especially as they slept or when fires were left unattended.” Many African nations, and developing nations elsewhere, are taking the lead in renewable energies by turning to solar as a first step in their power arsenal.
Climatescope said clean energy investment had doubled from 2014 to last year to reach $5.2-billion (R73-billion) in the 58 emerging markets it surveys.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance released data last week showing that solar had surpassed wind in becoming the cheapest form of new electricity.
Aside from Uganda, Senegal, Mauritania, Rwanda and Kenya are among the sub-Saharan African nations investing in large-scale solar projects. – AFP