Muvumbe Hydroelectric Power Station Explained

Muvumbe Small Hydro Power Project
Location Map Caption:	Map of Uganda showing the location of Maziba
Coordinates:	-1.3186°N 30.0789°W
Country:	Uganda
Location:	Maziba, Kabale District
Status:	O
Commissioned:	March 2017
Owner:	Muvumbe Hydro Uganda Limited
Ps Electrical Capacity:	6.5MW

Muvumbe Hydroelectric Power Station is a hydroelectric power station in the Western Region of Uganda.

Location

The power station was built across the River Nyakijumba (also known as the River Maziba or the River Muvumbe), a tributary of the Kagera River. The station is in Kigarama village in Nyanja parish, Maziba Sub-county, Kabale District, in south-western Uganda, close to the international border with Rwanda. This is approximately, by road, southeast of the town of Kabale, where the district headquarters are located.^[1] Maziba is approximately 410km (260miles), by road, south-west of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda.^[2] The coordinates of the power station are 1°19'07.0"S, 30°04'44.0"E (Latitude=-1.318611; Longitude=30.078889).

History

The new power plant lies at the site of a smaller hydroelectric power plant that was constructed in 1966 but went out of commission in 2002 due to disrepair and silting.^[3] In 2009, a new feasibility study was carried out by Lahmeyer International, a German consulting engineering firm, paving way for the new power plant.^[4] In April 2014, Muvumbe Hydro (Uganda) Limited applied for a power production license from the Electricity Regulatory Authority to generate and sell 6.5 megawatts of hydroelectric power at this power station. The power will be sold to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited and integrated into the national grid.^[5] Construction started in September 2015 and is expected to last 18 months.

Construction costs

The estimated costs for the dam and power plant is US$18 million (approximately UGX:64 billion).^[6] Construction funds will be sourced jointly by the Sri Lankan developers and the government of Uganda.^[7] In January 2015, Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda indicated that funding for the dam had been secured from Germany. Muvumbe Hydro Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of Vidullanka Plc. of Sri Lanka, owns the development rights to the project.^[8]

Construction timeline

Construction started in September 2015^[6] and commercial power production began in March 2017.^[9]

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Road Distance Between Kabale And Maziba With Map . 8 May 2014. Globefeed.com.
Web site: Globefeed.com . Map Showing Kampala And Maziba With Distance Marker . 8 May 2014.
Web site: Rehabilitation Small Hydropower Station Maziba Gorge . Lahmeyer International . 8 May 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140413142407/http://www.lahmeyer.de/en/projects/details/browse/0/project/772/mode/1/show/showAll/ . April 13, 2014 .
Web site: 8 May 2014 . Consulting For Maziba Hydro-Power Plant In Uganda . Devex.com.
Web site: Application For A License for The Establishment of 6.5MW Hydro Power Plant In Kabale District . 8 April 2014 . ERA . 10 January 2015 . Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150110202937/http://www.era.or.ug/index.php/2013-10-23-18-03-21/2013-10-23-18-12-48/notices/307-application-for-a-license-for-the-establishment-of-83mw-hydropower-plant-in-pader-and-gulu-districts-2 . 10 January 2015 .
Web site: Work on Shs64b Kabale hydropower dam starts . Muhereza . Robert . 23 September 2015 . 23 September 2015 . . Kampala.
Web site: Kabale To Get 6.5 MW Power Station . Red Pepper (Uganda) . 26 August 2013 . Our . Reporter . 8 May 2014.
Web site: Alon . Germany to fund Kabale power dam . 20 January 2015 . 17 January 2016 . The Observer (Uganda). Kampala. Mwesigwa.
Web site: Uganda set to connect 6.5MW hydropower plant . 16 August 2017 . 17 March 2017 . ESI-Africa News (ESI) . ESI.