EU to invest €60 million upgrading Uganda power plant

• 6 months ago (2023-11-02)
• David Flin

Africa 303 Hydropower 112

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The EU plans to invest €60 million in upgrading one of Uganda’s largest hydropower plants, helping to plug a financing gap for the country’s energy infrastructure.

The 380 MW Nalubaale and Kiira hydropower plant complex located at the source of the River Nile at Jinja in east Uganda is the country’s oldest power plant, commissioned in 1954. Eskom of South Africa ran the plant under a 20-year concession that ended earlier this year, after which the Ugandan government retook control.

Jan Sadek, the EU’s ambassador to Uganda, said: “We will be investing €60 million in the rehabilitation of Nalubaale and Kiira hydropower plant in order to provide reliable energy for Uganda’s industrialisation.” He did not say when work would begin or whether the funding would be a grant or credit. Sadek said the funding would be advanced under the EU’s global gateways strategy, which is designed to help meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.