East Africa dedicates the largest solar facility in Soroti

soroti-solar-facility

D’Ujanga Simon, Minister of State for Energy, today dedicated the 10 MW solar facility in East Africa, the largest such facility in the country.

The US$19 million Soroti Solar Plant is in part funded by the European Union – Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund through the GET FiT Solar Facility equivalent to 8.7 million euros in the form of result-based premium payments per kWh of delivered electricity.

Made up of 32,680 photovoltaic panels, the new 10 megawatt facility is the country’s first grid-connected solar plant and will generate clean, low-carbon, sustainable electricity to 40,000 homes, schools and businesses in the area.

EREN RE, the renewable energy power producer, collaborated with Access Power for the project. TSK, a local contractor, built the plant.

FMO, Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) served as financiers.

The H.E. Ambassador Kristian Schmidt, European Union Head of Delegation to Uganda said, “Uganda is a good place to invest in solar energy. The regulatory framework is conducive and Government rightly recognizes Uganda’s energy future must be renewable. It is great that this is now triggering private sector interest in solar power generation.”

David Corchia, CEO, EREN RE, stated, “Soroti solar plant is an excellent textbook example of how collaboration among key local and international stakeholders can result in the successful execution and completion of such a ground breaking project and in tangible progress in the spread of renewable energy across Africa.”

Reda El Chaar, executive chairman, Access Power, said, “We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to work with our European and Ugandan partners to bring to reality this flagship solar power plant. Soroti raises the bar on what can be achieved through teamwork and we look forward to more collaborative efforts to expand the footprint of clean energy across this mighty continent.”

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