The Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) has launched the upgrading of the 400 kV Karuma-Kawanda, 400 kV Karuma-Olwiyo and 132 kV Karuma-Lira power lines which wiill be used to transmit electricity generated from the 600 MW Karuma hydropower plant.
Located in the Kiryandongo district in north-western Uganda the Karuma hydropower plant is expected to have a capacity of 600 MW. It is being constructed by the Chinese company Sinohydro and currently at 98% complete. The six 100 MW Francis turbines that equip the Karuma hydroelectric power station were supplied by Alstom, a company based in Saint-Ouen, in the north of France.
The electricity generated by the hydroelectric dam will be evacuated from the Lira substation, which has been rehabilitated to support the 600 MW. According to Stephen Kyeganwa Mukasa, UEGCL’s Head of Monitoring and Evaluation, the electricity generated by the Kurama hydropower plant will guarantee stable, reliable and affordable electricity in Uganda.
Read: Construction of Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station launched
Regional economy
In addition the power project will also benefit Rwanda, Tanzania (in the north), Kenya and people in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), thereby stimulating the regional economy. Electricity will reach these other countries through power lines under construction, including the 220 kV Mbarara-Mirama-Birembo (Rwanda) line, the Mirama substation and the 220 kV Bujagali-Tororo-Lessos transmission lines.
“With the commissioning of the Karuma power plant, the country will reach a capacity of 1500 MW. Currently, Ugandans consume 600 MW at peak hours. The kilowatt-hour (kWh) distributed in this way is expected to cost Ugandan consumers US $0.049 for the first 10 years of the plant’s life. The price will then fall to US $0.020 per unit for the next 15 years,” said Keefa Kiwanuka, MP for East Kiboga in Central Uganda.