Tororo Solar Power Station, also Tororo Solar North Power Station, is a solar power plant 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 third-largest economy in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burun ...

Location

The power station is located in

Tororo District Tororo District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Tororo hosts the district headquarters. Location Tororo District is bordered by Mbale District to the north, Manafwa District to the north-east, Kenya to the east, Bus ...

, approximately , by road, southwest of the town of Tororo in the Eastern Region of Uganda. This is approximately by road, 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 Tororo Solar Power Station are 0°37'50.0"N, 34°06'40.0"E (Latitude:0.630556; Longitude:34.111111).

Overview

The power station has a capacity of 10 megawatts, 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 in the national electricity grid. The electricity is evacuated via a substation near the power station. The energy generated will power approximately 40,000 homes, located near the power station, thus minimizing transmission losses.

Developers

The power station was developed by a special purpose vehicle company, "Tororo Solar North Limited', specifically set up to develop, build and operate this solar power station. Tororo Solar is majority owned by Building Energy SpA, an International developer of renewable power sources, with headquarters in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy. Other owners in the consortium include the Ugandan "Simba Group". The Simba Group also owns Electromaxx Limited, the owner-operator of the 70 megawatt

Tororo Thermal Power Station Tororo Thermal Power Station is a heavy fuel oil-fired thermal power plant located in the town of Tororo in Tororo District in the Eastern Region of Uganda. Location The power station is located in Tororo, approximately southwest of downtow ...

, commissioned in 2010. The power generated at this power station is expected to serve an estimated 170,600 people.

Construction timeline, costs and funding

The cost of construction was budgeted at US$19.6 million, of which the owners contributed US$4.9 million. The remaining US$14.7 million was borrowed from

Netherlands Development Finance Company FMO ( nl, Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.) is a Dutch development bank structured as a bilateral private-sector international financial institution based in the Hague, the Netherlands. FMO manages funds for th ...

(FMO). Fifty percent of the FMO loan was syndicated from the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), which is substantially funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland and by the German development finance institution, KFW and its Dutch equivalent, FMO. The project is a beneficiary of the GETFit Uganda program led by

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 and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...

, receiving grant support from (amongst other contributors) th
EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (EU-AITF)
Construction began on 14 December 2016, and commissioning was performed on 16 October 2017.

References

External links

Uganda Secures Funding for Key Solar PV Projects

Uganda To Increase Power Generation

Building Energy SpA: Company Profile: List of Projects
{{Tororo District Solar power stations in Uganda Tororo District Eastern Region, Uganda 2017 establishments in Uganda Energy infrastructure completed in 2017