Uganda seeks proposals for mini-grid project in 25 villages

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Uganda’s government has issued an invitation for prequalification for the development  of a mini-grid project in a remote area of the northern part of country. The projects will be co-financed by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic cooperation and development under the German Climate Technology Initiative (DKTI),

Through the tender, the government of the African country will grant a concession for the operation of a subsidized mini-grid in up to 25 villages to a private developer.  Bids must be submitted by November 17, 2017.

Developers will be asked to provide a price per kWh. The concession will be awarded to the best offer according to the evaluation criteria, which are price, technical concept, performance forecast and socio-economic performance.

The new tender follows the news that the African Development Bank approved in April $2.3 million to help advance Uganda’s decentralized renewables development program. This grant covers the expenses associated with the development of an off-grid master plan for the electrification of a number of islands across Lake Victoria, including feasibility studies for the most viable ones, and to set the path for future energy investments in selected islands.

“The rural electrification rate in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world, at less than 20%. The electrification of rural areas carries inherent difficulties. Issues such as high costs of capital, low revenue collection rates, and insufficient generation capacity among others, are good examples of difficulties that are severely augmented when the area targeted for electrification is remote and unique in nature,” said Amadou Hott, AfDB’s Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth.

Furthermore, the U.K. and Uganda recently signed a solar power access agreement to bring a 10 MW of solar online. Access Power and Eren RE completed in late 2016 the commissioning of the solar plant in Soroti, the largest solar farm in East Africa.

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