The government of Uganda has announced the completion of 24MW Kabulasoke solar power park which cost US $25m.
Energy solutions provide, Great Lakes Africa Energy (GLAE) confirmed the reports and said Kabulasoke Solar Power Park, which is the first of its kind in the East Africa region, Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, will be making a big leap towards enhancing its renewable energy capacity.
GLAE is part of a development consortium comprising of Uganda’s Xsabo Power Limited which has been working to deliver the 24MW solar power park in conjunction with the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited.
According to GLAE Director, Mr. Michael Kearns, the Commercial Operations Start Date (COD) for the project, was achieved on Sunday, 30th December 2018 and duly confirmed by (UETCL), as per terms of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Government of the Republic of Uganda.
“With the achievement of a COD milestone, we are now ready to undertake the ceremonial commissioning of the largest solar power park in East and Central Africa at the earliest opportunity. The grid switching of the Kabulasoke project marks yet another milestone for GLAE alongside our other projects in Ndola Zambia and Rovuma in Mozambique, where weare providing energy solutions to power national development ideals,” said Director, Mr. Michael Kearns.
Kabulasoke solar power park
The pioneer solar module for the multimillion dollar pilot solar project that sits on an area of 120 acres, was laid on September last year by Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi assisted by the CEO/managing Director Xsabo Group Dr. David Alobo, and other co-investment partners at Namulaba and Butiti villages, Kabulasoke sub county in Gomba district.
The solar power park, features Tier 1 poly crystalline solar modules with an efficiency of 17.6% which is now highest in the Industry ensuring a high energy yield. The engineering design for the project, also integrates a state of the art invertor plus power transformer solution to minimize energy losses. The GLAE Power plant design ensures less than 0.5%energy losses for the plant.
The Kabulasoke project, which is already connected to the national grid, Kearns said, will serve a population of more than 5million in rural Uganda, who currently rely on kerosene; among other non-renewable energy sources while affording more than 21,000 tons of carbon savings.
GLAE is in the process of securing additional Power Purchase Agreements in Africa and beyond and is currently screening opportunities in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo among other countries.
