Technical support for Karuma and Isimba

Uganda Electricity Generation Company (UEGCL) has invited bids by 19 October to provide technical support for operations and maintenance of the Karuma and Isimba hydropower plants on theVictoria Nile.The 183MW Isimba plant, which is located in the Kamuli District in the Eastern Region, about 40km downstream of the 250MW Bujagali station, was fully commissioned in March 2019.The 600MW Karuma project is scheduled to be commissioned by year-end.

The two run-of-river projects have been developed and financed by China. Isimba was built by China International Water and Electric Company under an EPC contract on behalf of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and is operated by UEGCL.The low-head, run-of-river plant was built over six years at a cost of $590m, of which 85% was financed by the Export-Import Bank of China. The $1.7bn Karuma project is being built by Sinohydro under similar terms. When commissioned, Karuma will be the country’s single largest power plant, providing roughly 40% of Uganda’s power supply.

Contact: UEGCL, Block C, Victoria Office Park, Plot 6-9 Okot Close, Bukoto, PO Box 75831, Kampala, Uganda. E-mail: pdu@uegcl.go.ug;Tel: +256 0312 372 165.