Delegation of EU in Uganda welcome to Eastern Africa Region AFRETEP project workshop

Delegation of the European Commission in Uganda. Welcome to the 1st Regional AFRETEP Workshop

Speaker: Mr. Luca Arras. Programme Officer, Infrastructure Section

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Delegation of EU in Uganda, I want to warmly welcome you to Eastern Africa Region AFRETEP project workshop.

We look forward to working with you all during this workshop and establish ideas on which we can work together to promote the use of sustainable energy in Uganda and the Eastern Africa Region.

1. Intro on Ugandan energy supply and electrification rate

Traditional biomass dominates the energy supply and consumption with 92 % (especially for cooking), followed by petroleum (6%) and electricity (2%) according to the GIZ country report of 2009.

The country has 387 MW installed capacity in hydropower, 160 MW in thermal power plants, and 18 MW from cogeneration in sugar industries.

The grid faces regular load shedding, since the demand outnumbers the available capacity.

The electrification rate is quite low with only 9 % of the population having access.

Only 3% of the rural population has access to electricity against 42 % in the Entebbe-Kampala areas.

2.  Renewable energy in Uganda

Uganda has a variety of renewable energy resources, but up to now, only large hydro resources along the Nile have been developed to some extent to provide electricity through a national grid. Other available resources have remained largely untapped: small hydro, biomass, solar, wind and geothermal sources.

A general energy plan for Uganda, which had among its objectives an increase in the use of modern renewable energy, was launched in 2002 (MEMD 2002). A renewable energy policy for Uganda was approved by cabinet in March 2007.

Uganda’s ambitious policy goal for renewable energy aims to increase the use of modern renewable energy from the 4% in 2007 to 61% of the total energy consumption by the year 2017 (MEMD 2007). The expected results are to increase the generation capacities in the period 2007 – 2017 with the following figures:

(i) hydropower from 380 to 1200 MW

(ii) small hydropower from 17 to 85 MW,

(iii) Cogeneration from 15 to 60 MW,

(iv) geothermal from 0 to 30 MW, (V) municipal waste from 0 to 30 MW.

The EU is exploring the potential of Wind Power Generation in Karamoja. In neighbouring Northwest Kenya, Lake Turkana Wind Power project (LTWP) will provide 300 MW taking advantage of a unique wind resource in Northwest Kenya. The EU and GoU will explore toghether the possibility of setting up wind inventory stations.

 3. Rural Electricity Access

We should promote the use of small hydro, biomass, solar and wind to enhance electricity access to rural populations. Special packages to make connections and services affordable are required and the EU is working in this direction through supporting the development of independent grids supplied by micro and pico hydros and biomass gasifiers to be managed by communities and solar PV systems in dispersed remote settlements.

We will prioritize supporting electrification for productive uses and key social services.

4. EU Energy Facility Project in Uganda

Three EU projects are presently ongoing under the Energy Facility:

• PAMENU, Providing Access to Modern Energy in Northern Uganda (PAMENU) implemented by GIZ:

Provide access to modern energy services (energy packages) to rural households, social institutions as well as SMEs in the target districts of Moyo, Yumbe, Apac, Lira, Arua. EU funding: EUR 2,400,000 (60.58%) total cost of the action: EUR 3,961,403. Duration: 40 months (End of January 2008 to end of May 2011).

Main Activities of PAMENU:

Rural electrification in West Nile:

(i) Solar-PV systems for Households, Institutions and SMEs (ii) Yumbe District Solar Street Lighting

(iii) Development of Micro- hydro & Pico-hydro power (A model that can be replicated using local capacity).

Improved Stoves in West Nile: GIZ supports three local NGOs in Arua, Yumbe and Moyo districts in the dissemination of improved household stoves particularly the mud rocket and rocket lorena. By end of July 2011, a total of 92,258 household mud stoves had been disseminated. Additionally, through 1 Public-Private Partnership contract with a local firm (Prime Energy and Energy Savers Ltd - PEES) 16,119 improved charcoal and 97 metal rocket firewood stoves were disseminated to households in Arua and Koboko districts.

• Project 2: Energy efficient stove project, implemented by the Church of Sweden:

Increase access to efficient stoves among rural households in Northern Uganda - Kitgum and Pader districts(48 months) worth EUR 953,390.00 has been signed by the Delegation on 26/09/2011.

• Project 3: Micro-finance/energy enterprise partnerships programme, implem by Triodos Facet BV:

Expanding Sustainable Energy Markets through Microfinance -Energy Enterprise partnerships (48 months) amount EUR 633,695.00 was concluded on 01/09/2011.

Furthermore, a € 3.225 Million grant from the Energy Facility Pooling Mechanism could soon be awarded to a proposal from KfW "Fostering Access to Modern Energy Services in Rural Uganda - Investment Program West Nile". The EU and GoU will explore toghether the possibility of setting up wind inventory stations.

The EU and most vulnerable Developing Countries working together to tackle climate change, initiated in 2007 by the European Commission, the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) intends to deepen dialogue, cooperation and enhance support on climate change between the European and poor developing countries.

5. Conclusion

We welcome this EC training initiative for experts in energy and we hope that this workshop will be the starting point for new initiatives in the renewable energy sector between the GoU ministries and agencies, the academic institutions and the development donors active in this field.

We look forward to hearing from you practical proposals that can be implemented using local knowledge, capacities and materials.

I leave you now to the next speaker.

Thank you.

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