The United Kingdom(UK) government is planning a £235 million capital investment in the hydropower sector in Africa.
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, while in Rwanda for a meeting with Commonwealth leaders, said, he welcomes Green Industrial Revolution ‘sweeping across Africa.’
“The major new UK investments and public-private partnerships are turbocharging the clean energy transition in Africa,” Boris said at a business forum after meeting Rwandan President, Paul Kagame and discussing existing partnerships between Rwanda and the UK.
British International Investment [BII) has partnered with Norway’s Norfund in a joint venture with energy firm Scatec to provide up to £162m ($200m) of capital investment in the hydropower sector in Africa.
Gridworks, a UK Government-funded subsidiary of BII, has also signed a cooperation agreement with the Government of Uganda this week to invest up to £73m ($90m) to develop their national grid.
The project will upgrade four critical electricity substations in Uganda to boost their capacity to absorb renewable energy to supply industrial customers.
“The Green Industrial Revolution is sweeping across Africa, backed by British financing and technical expertise. The continent’s abundant natural resources can be harnessed to provide cheap, reliable sources of energy for its people and industries, without contributing to the rising global temperatures that are already devastating communities.
“The UK Government is leading the way, supporting sustainable green infrastructure across the Commonwealth and opening new opportunities for Britain’s leading clean tech companies to grow their business around the world,” said Johnson.
The partnership is expected to create 180,000 jobs and provide enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 3 million people, while slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Initial projects include the proposed 205MW Ruzizi III hydropower plant which will provide energy for Rwanda, DRC and Burundi and the construction of Malawi’s largest power plant.
Uganda already gets 80 per cent of its energy from renewable sources but has the potential to generate far more if storage and transmission infrastructure is improved.