Minister Nankabirwa: Part of Isimba Hydropower plant has been restored,there will be no load shedding

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa has said that part of the Isimba Hydropower Plant has been restored, therefore will be no load shedding in various parts of the country as earlier anticipated.

Speaking after the inspection of the plant on Sunday, the Minister said the restoration works at Isimba Hydro Power Plant are progressing well with two Units 2 and 4 restored, delivering a total of 91.4 Megawatts.

Hon. Nankabirwa added that the development by the Operator, Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) implies that there will be no load shedding attributed to the plant’s recent shut-down since sufficient power generation has been restored at Isimba HPP.

“It ought to be noted that Unit 3 is still under outage and hence only 3 units will be returned to full generation capacity by the end of the week giving us a viable 135 MW as was the state of production before the incident. This progress hence implies that the Government of Uganda, through its transmission company (UETCL) will no longer need to import electricity from Kenya. Instead, we shall be exporting 50 MW to Kenya as before,” she said.

“For now, we are working tirelessly to fully restore the plant by the end of August 2022. We call for your patience and support as we promptly address the situation at Isimba HPP.”

On Monday, 08 August 2022, the 183 Megawatts Isimba Hydropower Plant in Kayunga flooded and it was temporarily shut down leading to load-shedding in different parts of the country. According to Nankabirwa, the plant’s powerhouse almost submerged and to avoid accidents and loss of lives and property, it was immediately shut down.