By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa has said the government of Uganda through its transmission company Uganda Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd (UETCL) will no longer need to import electricity from Kenya but instead, Uganda will be exporting 50MW to Kenya as before following restoration works at Isimba Hydro Power Plant.
Nankabirwa made the comments while inspecting the dam to assess the progress of restoration following the recent shutdown which was caused by flooding after heavy rains.
According to Nankabirwa, engineers at Isimba dam have managed to restore four turbines that had experienced a breakdown further noting that the plant will be fully restored sooner than later.
“I visited Isimba dam to see for myself the status of the dam and I can officially confirm that Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) operations and maintenance team safely restored a second unit (Unit 4) at the plant. And they are currently dispatching 76MW to UETCL,” Nankabirwa said.
”So, to all Ugandans, the issue of load shedding because of what happened here at ISIMBA should not be something to be entertained now because we are now producing. And the issue of importation of power from Kenya. It was a technical problem because we don’t import power,” she added.
The @GovUganda, through its transmission company @uetcl will no longer need to import electricity from Kenya.
Instead, Uganda will be exporting 50MW to Kenya as before following restoration works at Isimba Hydro Power Plant that progressing well according to @NankabirwaRS. pic.twitter.com/QXYvfjkFIW— Uganda Media Centre (@UgandaMediaCent) August 22, 2022
The 183MW Isimba hydropower power plant experienced a shut down on August 8 2022 following flooding of the power house that houses generators and turbines leading to power outages in the country for the past one week.
Last week, Nankabirwa assured the country that the closure of Isimba Dam and the importation of power from Kenya will not lead to an increase of power tariffs adding that appropriate measures are being undertaken to restore power production as soon as possible.
Nankabirwa also revealed that UETCL suppressed exportation of power to Kenya after the technical hitch but the exportation had resumed.
”Further to note, UETCL actually suppressed exportation of Power to Kenya of around as Unit two came back on board generating 40MW and we also had power generated at Namanve Thermal Power Plant. That surpression lasted 3 days and now we’re back to exporting 50 to 60MW to Kenya,” she noted.
Uganda’s currently generates about 1,250Megawatts but consumption stands at slightly above 650 megawatts during peak hours, creating a surplus of half of what is generated.
The amount of electricity produced in Uganda is expected to increase to over 2,000MW by the end of 2022 with the addition of Karuma dam which produces 600MW, Kikagati (16MW) and Nyamagasani I (15MW) as well as other small hydro power plants.
