Electricity in Uganda

Electricity in Uganda

Ever since electricity was introduced to Uganda, there has been an acute power supply shortage. This has been a problem because of low water levels and the fast economic development. The demand has been rising every year as the population grows. This essay talks about the environmental problems that have been caused when creating electricity for Uganda. It also talks about the dams that are currently in place, the ones that are soon to come and what Uganda is doing currently to try and make up for the demands.

Over the past few years the water levels of Lake Victoria has decreased by huge amounts. Lake Victoria is the largest inland lake in Africa that makes up for a lot of the counties surrounding it, including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Owen Falls dam is located near Jinja, and is the reason for the lower water levels. The dam provides the majority of electricity in Uganda, almost 250 MW of the 300 MW currently being provided. The Owen Falls dam and drought have together brought a rapid decline in water levels of more than 1.2 metres since 2003, bring the Lake to its lowest level since 1951, says Richard Ingham, a reporter for Terra Daily. This has caused huge problems because Lake Victoria is not only part of Uganda but also Tanzania and Kenya. On the river banks where water was once abundant has now been turned into muddy swamp land. While some claim that it is the Owen Falls Dam that has caused this drop; others say that it has been caused by the recent droughts. Daniel Kull, a hydrologic engineer from Nairobi Kenya observed and studied both cases and says, "The Owen Falls Dams have not been adhering to the Agreed Curve of operations, releasing more water than dictated", in his report, he also states, "it is unkown if Lake Victoria will recharge to the high levels and outflow experienced during 1961-2000, and if such a recharge could occur, whether it would be in the next few years or in 100 years" (Kull, Connections Between Recent Water Level Drops...). The shortage of electricity has been a problem, yet home owners in many areas have either a generator or inverter to compensate for the load shedding that is now a common practice in Kampala and many other places around Uganda. The Bujagali Power Station is a 250 MW hydroelectric power plant, situated on the head waters of the River Nile , approximately 16 kilometres north of Jinja has been a project long thought about and is finally underway after many delays. The building of the plant has now been revived after it was stopped in 2002 "over corruption concerns and the private project sponsor withdrew from the project in 2004" (Problem Project- Bank Information Center. "Bujagali Hydroelectric Project... bicusa.org) Electricity expenses in Uganda are currently quite expensive, but with the arrival of another 250 MW will decrease the costs by some amount. However, the