The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a project preparation grant of $2.3 million for decentralized power systems in rural and urban areas of Uganda. This grant is aimed at helping kick start future investments in such power systems. At the same time, it should also support installation of solar PV rooftop systems on government-owned buildings around Kampala, Jinja, Mbale and Entebbe.
It will cover the expenses associated with the development of an off-grid master plan for the electrification of a number of islands across Lake Victoria. This will include feasibility studies for the most viable ones.
The grant comes from the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Programme of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) managed by the AfDBs Department of Climate Change and Green Growth. CIF is a $8.3 billion instrument that provides developing nations with grants, concessional loans, risk mitigation instruments and equity from various sources.
Along with AfDB, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and World Bank Group (WBG) implement CIF-funded projects and programs.
Less than 20% of rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa are electrified. Electrification of these rural areas is itself fraught with challenges including high costs of capital, low revenue collection rates, and insufficient generation capacity among others, as per AfDB.
This grant will develop the requisite regulatory and legal frameworks to pilot net-metering systems before the technology can be scaled up and rolled out to private businesses and households.