Soroti Solar Power Station


The Soroti Power Station is a solar power plant in Uganda. It is the largest grid-connected, "privately-funded solar power plant in Sub-Saharan Africa, outside of South Africa".

Location

The power station is located in Soroti District east of the town of Soroti in the Eastern Region of Uganda, approximately by road north-east of Kampala, the country's capital and largest city.

Overview

The power station has a 10 megawatt capacity. Its output is sold directly to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited for integration into the national grid. The power is evacuated via a substation near the station. It has been estimated that the energy generated could power approximately 40,000 homes located near the station, thereby minimizing transmission losses. The power station, which consists of 32,680 photovoltaic panels, is Uganda's first grid-connected solar plant. The power station sits on of land.

Developers

The power station was developed by a consortium of Access Power MEA, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, and , a company based in Spain. They won the competitive bidding and were awarded the development contract at the same time as the developers of the Tororo Solar Power Station.

Construction costs, funding, and commissioning

The construction costs were US$19 million. The project received partial funding from the European Union Infrastructure Trust Fund through KfW. On 12 December 2016, the solar plant was switched on.