Uganda Imports Electricity From Kenya as Isimba Power Plant Shuts down

Government will for the next three weeks import 60 Mega Watts of power from the neighbouring Kenya after shutting down the Isimba Hydropower Plant in Kayunga District

The 183MW Isimba Hydropower Plant was closed by the energy Ministry for three weeks after floods affected the power house and turbines.

In a statement released on Tuesday by  Ruth Nankabirwa, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development says the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited(UETCL) is currently importing approximately 60 megawatts of power from neighboring Kenya.

Nankabirwa explains that this undertaking is an alternative measure to ensure continuity of electricity supply for the next three weeks.

She states that the power  Plant was shut down on August 8th 2022 following operational challenges that led to the flow of water into the power house.

“The Shutdown was undertaken as a safety procedure to ensure safety of staff and protection of the electro-mechanical equipment. The operator, Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited – UEGCL is undertaking appropriate measures to restore power production ” the notice reads in part

UEGCL is also ensuring they dispatch up to 50 megawatts of power from Namanve Thermal Power Plant; dispatch of 20 megawats from the Kakira Power Plant and optimization of the generation capacity of the available power plants across the country.

The Minister also says they have suspended any planned and non-emergency outage permits, and implementation of the load shedding to balance power demand and supply is achieved and sustained.

Nankanbirwa has encouraged the public that the sector is working to ensure the situation is normalized as soon as possible.

Isimba Hydroelectric Power Station is a 183.2 megawatts hydroelectric power station commissioned on 21 March 2019 in Uganda.

Along with Isimba, Karuma and the Nalubaale projects, there are three other large dams in operation: an embankment dam at Kiira (200 MW); the Bujagali concrete gravity dam (250 MW) and Achwa (41 MW)

The country’s total installed capacity from all sources is 1293 MW (2020) for both grid and off-grid capacity; of this, 1034.4 MW is hydropower. Total generation was 4362.99 GWh in 2019, of which hydro was 3985.74 GWh.

It was announced in 2019 that an agreement had been signed for the first cross-border project between Uganda and Tanzania. It will be a 14 MW scheme at Kikagati.

Uganda exports a certain percentage of its electricity to neighbouring Kenya and part of Tanzania, eastern DR Congo and South Sudan.

In 2019, Kenya increased its electricity imports from Uganda  through UETCL by 67% following a 50% tariff reduction

About 10 per cent of the technically feasible hydro potential has been developed so far.