The Soroti Power Station is a

solar power plant A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. It was the largest grid-connected, "privately-funded solar power plant in Sub-Saharan Africa, outside of South Africa" at its commissioning and until the Pilot Solar Power Plant (20MW) of The Xsabo Group in Kabulasoke ( Kabulasoke Solar Power Station) in Central Uganda was completed and commissioned in January 2019.

Location

The power station is located in

Soroti District Soroti District is a district in Eastern Uganda. It is named after its chief municipal, administrative and commercial headquarters, Soroti, where the district headquarters are located. Location Soroti District is bordered by Amuria District to th ...

, southeast of the city of

Soroti Soroti is a city in Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main City, commercial, and administrative center in curved out of Soroti District, one of the nine administrative districts in the Teso sub-region. Soroti City was immediately approved f ...

in the Eastern Region of Uganda, approximately by road north-east of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, the country's capital and largest city. The geographical coordinates of Soroti Solar Power Station are 1°41'06.0"N, 33°39'29.0"E (Latitude:1.685000; Longitude:33.658056).

Overview

The power station has a 10 megawatt capacity. Its output is sold directly 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 ...

for integration into the national grid. The power is evacuated via a substation near the station. It has been estimated that the energy generated could power approximately 40,000 homes located near the station, thereby minimizing transmission losses. The power station, which consists of 32,680 photovoltaic panels, is Uganda's first grid-connected solar plant. The power station sits on of land.

Developers

The power station was developed by a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

of ''Access Power Limited'' (through its subsidiary Access Uganda Solar), a company based in the United Arab Emirates, an
TSK Electrónica y Electricidad
a company based in Spain. They won the competitive bidding and were awarded the development contract at the same time as the developers of the

Tororo Solar Power Station Tororo Solar Power Station, also Tororo Solar North Power Station, is a solar power plant in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community. Location The power station is located in Tororo District, approximately , by road, so ...

. As of February 2022, the power station has been sold to and is now owned by Total Eren, the renewable energy subsidiary of the French energy conglomerate, TotalEnergies.

Construction costs, funding, and commissioning

The construction costs were US$19 million. The project received partial funding from the European Union Infrastructure Trust Fund through

KfW The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment bank, investment and Development finance institution, development bank, based in Frankfurt ...

. On 12 December 2016, the solar plant was switched on.

References

External links