A special ceremony was held in Kiryandongo in northern Uganda on Sept. 26 to commission the 600 MW Karuma Hydropower Project (KHP) and the Karuma Interconnection Project; the project will boost the electrical generation capacity of Uganda to slightly more than 2,000 MW, over a 40% increase! The ceremony was attended by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Vice President Jessica Alupo, other senior officials and international partners, including Chinese Ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong, reported Xinhua on Sept. 28.
The Chinese Export-Import Bank and the Ugandan government jointly financed the project, which cost $1.7 billion. Construction began in 2013 and faced many delays. Ambassador Zhang Lizhong remarked that the “Karuma Hydropower Project would not only connect millions of households with affordable electricity, supply power for some of the most dynamic industrial areas in Uganda, and promote its green economic transformation, but also give the Pearl of Africa a huge boost as the regional electricity hub and contribute to sustainable clean energy for East African development.” President Museveni praised China “for its announcement at the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing early this month, where the Asian country gave all the least-developed countries it has diplomatic relations with, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100%tariff lines.”
Uganda currently exports electricity to neighboring countries Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya, reported Reuters. The Chinese have committed to building a 400 kV transmission line spanning 248 km to distribute the electricity to the Ugandan population as well, and another $180 million transmission line to export electricity to South Sudan.
The Karuma HP is located downstream of Lake Kyoga. While the lake is in the region of Africa’s Great Lakes, it isn’t itself one of the Great Lakes. It is part of a system through which the White Nile flows, from Lake Victoria, through Lake Kyoga to Lake Albert. KHP capacity is generated by six vertical Francis turbines, and it includes a dam, 20 meters high and 312 meters long, andthe largest hydropower project in Uganda.
