EAIF has offered a $49 million loan to the developers of two mini-hydro projects in Uganda
Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, EAIF, an international private infrastructure financier founded by the governments of UK, Sweden, Netherlands and Switzerland has offered a $49 million loan to the developers of two mini-hydro projects in Uganda.
The projects, Mpanga and Bugoye hydropower dams being constructed in Kamwenge and Kasese districts respectively, are being developed by Tronder Power Limited, and South Asia Energy Management Systems, SAEMS, a US company that provides renewable energy solutions.
Once completed, which is expected in a year, both projects will inject a combined 31MW of hydro power into the grid, partially plugging the ever widening power deficit in the country and cutting back on the frequent outages.
They are both mini hydropower dams and their quick progress is viewed as testament to the relative success of government’s policy of boosting the nation’s power supply through a dual strategy of simultaneously harnessing the nation’s small, scattered and low-capacity renewable energy resources and developing large-scale projects like Bujagali and Karuma.