To fill a power gap brought on by flooding at the 183 MW Isimba dam, which had to be temporarily shut down, Uganda plans to buy 60 megawatts from Kenya.
The powerhouse at the $568 million reservoir was nearly submerged last Monday, short-circuiting switchboards and electric motors. The cost of the damage is yet to be established but is estimated at billions of shillings.
Energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa told the Monitor that they have finalized plans to evacuate power from Kenya and would pay it back in kind when the dam is restored. “We had to gather around so that we would not suffer a big load shedding,” she said.
China’s Exim Bank financed 80 percent of the dam, which was commissioned in March 2019.
Uganda generates 1,254MW, of which 1,004.3MW is from hydro dams. The average demand peaks at 800 MW.
The top markets for Uganda’s surplus electricity are Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
