(3 Minutes Read)
Construction of the tunnel-design power station, an interconnection station, and high-voltage transmission lines was launched in December 2013, for USD 1.688 billion, of which USD 1.435 billion is a loan from the China Exim Bank, while the remainder was funded by the Uganda government’s energy fund.
After 11 years under construction, Uganda’s flagship hydropower project, Karuma, was finally commissioned recently, marking an end to a long, winding journey littered with technical defects, fights between the government and the contractor as well as other non-engineering challenges.
Construction of the tunnel-design power station, an interconnection station, and high-voltage transmission lines was launched in December 2013, for USD 1.688 billion, of which USD 1.435 billion is a loan from the China Exim Bank, while the remainder was funded by the Uganda government’s energy fund.
Generating 600MW at peak, Karuma now takes Uganda’s installed capacity to just over 2,000MW – up from 380MW in 2005 – generated from an energy mix of hydro, solar, and thermal, the bulk of which is hydroelectricity.
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President Yoweri Museveni commissioned the power plant – whose cost of electricity is 4.97 US cents per kWh, which is the fourth least-cost power plant after Nalubaale (1.119 US cents), Kiira (1.19 US cents) and Isimba (1.46 US cents), while Bujagali is highest-cost at 8.30 US cents per unit.
