Statistics from Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority indicate that peak demand for power is growing by 10% every year, and there is need to commission at least 50MW every year if Uganda is to avoid load-shedding.
Already, electricity demand has increased sharply following the commissioning of the 250MW Bujagali hydropower project, a signal that policy makers should be bringing new projects online to prevent a reversion to load shedding.
The country’s national development plan (NDP) identifies limited generation capacity and corresponding limited transmission and distribution network as key constraints to the performance of the energy sector. The NDP further cites increasing power generation capacity as the first objective to deal with this problem and construction of larger hydropower plants as the first intervention strategy.
