South Africa’s power firm Eskom returned two hydropower plants to the Ugandan government on Tuesday after Ugandan authorities declined to renew its licence, Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said. Under a 20‑year concession signed in 2002, Eskom had been operating the plants located at the source of the River Nile in Jinja, about 90 km (56 miles) east of the capital Kampala. The two facilities have a combined installed capacity of 380 megawatts.
Last year the government announced it would not renew Eskom’s licence when it expired this month, opting instead to run the plants as part of a plan to reduce power costs for consumers and to lessen private capital involvement in the sector. “We also strongly believe that Eskom has built adequate local capacity that will be able to continue the proper operations and maintenance of the complex,” Nankabirwa said while taking over the plants.
In a speech marking the transfer, Nankabirwa said the state‑run Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd will now operate the facilities. She added that the government is conducting an audit to determine whether it owes Eskom any compensation for unrecorded investments, and affirmed, “The Government of Uganda is ready to fulfill the outstanding obligations that will arise out of this audit.”
Uganda’s installed generation capacity is about 1,400 MW and is expected to rise to 2,000 MW when the Chinese‑built Karuma plant on the River Nile is commissioned later this year.
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