Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL), is an electric energy generating company in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. The company owns and operates the

Bujagali Power Station The Bujagali Power Station is a hydroelectric power station across the Victoria Nile that harnesses the energy of its namesake; the Bujagali Falls, in Uganda. Construction began in 2007 and concluded in 2012. It was officially inaugurated o ...

, which was the largest hydropower plant in the country as of July 2014.

Overview

BEL is a single purpose company, formed to develop the 250 megawatt Bujagali Hydropower Station. Under arrangements with the government of Uganda (GOU), BEL owns and operates the power plant for 30 years, starting with commissioning. After the 30 years, BEL will transfer ownership of the station to the GOU for US$1.00. The power generated is sold to the

Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited The Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) is a parastatal company whose primary purpose is to make bulk electricity purchases and transmit the electricity along high voltage wires to local and foreign distribution points. UETCL ...

, the Uganda electricity transmitter monopoly. The power purchase agreements were executed between the concerned parties, in December 2005.

Power stations

BEL owns and operates the

Bujagali Hydroelectric Power Station The Bujagali Power Station is a hydroelectric power station across the Victoria Nile that harnesses the energy of its namesake; the Bujagali Falls, in Uganda. Construction began in 2007 and concluded in 2012. It was officially inaugurated on 8 ...

, a 250 megawatt hydropower station built on the

Victoria Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...

at a cost of US$900 million between 2007 and 2012.

Ownership

As of September 2016, the shareholders in BEL were as listed in the table below. In May 2018, the Daily Nation newspaper reported that

Jubilee Holdings Limited Jubilee Holdings Limited is a financial services holding company, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The company maintains subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Mauritius. Its activities are mainly in the insurance sector. ...

was set to invest an additional KSh4.4 billion (US$44 million) the business, in addition to the KSh5.5 billion (US$55 million) that it had already invested. In August 2018, Sithe Global Power of the United States, exited the company and SN Power AS, of Norway acquired shareholding in the business. After the exit of Sithe Global Power in 2018, the shareholding was adjusted as reflected in the table below. SN Power AS was acquired by Scatec along with its assets on 29 January 2021.

Financing

The following entities contributed funds to build the power station. As of July 2019, the restructured debt package was approximately US$500 million, with IFC contributing about US$100 million to the total new loan package. In December 2017, the Ugandan government reached consensus with the power station's financiers on restructuring the loans and waiving taxes on the power generated, to enable the cost of power to the consumer to reduce. In July 2018, with about US$450 million of the US$900 million construction loan repaid, the remaining loan was restructured and extended for another 15 years, thereby lowering the loan payments and related electricity tariffs to as low as US$0.08 per unit, for large industrial customers. The new lower electricity rates were expected to commence in July 2018.

References

External links