Uganda Imported Power Worth Shs50m During Isimba Dam Blackout
Uganda Electricity Generations Company Limited (UEGCL) announced that the team at Isimba has synchronized the third unit (Unit 1) onto the national grid - meaning that the dam had been restored to normal generation as was prior to the emergency shutdown.
The deputy speaker of parliament Thomas Tayebwa has informed the August House that power generation at the Isimba Hydropower Plant has been restored and the planting is now normally generating 137MWs.
Tayebwa also revealed that during the time Isimba was off, the country imported ‘power of around US$13,000’ which translates to about Shs50m.
On Tuesday, Uganda Electricity Generations Company Limited (UEGCL) announced that the team at Isimba has synchronized the third unit (Unit 1) onto the national grid – meaning that the dam had been restored to normal generation as was prior to the emergency shutdown.
Ruth Nankabirwa, the energy minister, also took to social media to announce the progress made at Isimba. She tweeted: “Countrymen, And Yes, we are now back to the pre-incident level where we had 3 Units and one unit on outage. So, we have Unit 1, 2 and 4 back online while Unit 3 is still on outage for contractors works. As of today, the 3rd unit (Unit no.1) has been successfully restored.”
There was an emergency shutdown of the 183 MW Isimba in Kayunga district, on Monday 8th August, 2022 due to operational challenges that led to the flow of water into the powerhouse.
This caused a shortfall in the amount of electricity supplied on the national grip. And because of this shortfall, government had proposed to buy about 60MW from Kenya.
Indeed, as Tayebwa revealed, government had started on that venture and imported electricity worth about Shs50m.
