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Uganda’s Nyamwamba ll HPP

secures $10.6mn from EAIF

UGANDA EMERGING Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) Serengeti currently has seven operational
is providing a $10.6mn loan to the developer of plants, in Uganda, South Africa and Rwanda,
the 7.8MW Nyamwamba II hydroelectricity and two under construction in Malawi and
plant in the Kasese district of western Uganda. Sierra Leone.
The financing facility of Private Infrastruc- Global asset manager Ninety One manages
ture Development Group (PIDG) is providing EAIF. It markets the fund, seeks projects, eval-
the loan to Serengeti Energy Africa. The plant’s uates loan applications, including due diligence,
electricity will feed into Uganda’s national under manages transaction administration and moni-
a 20-year power purchase agreement. tors the loan portfolio.
EAIF said Serengeti’s new plant, which began Ninety One’s Investment Director Sumit
producing electricity in early 2022, brings to 10 Kanodia said PIDG and EAIF are delighted to
the number of hydro and solar green energy support yet another renewable energy project in
plants the unit of Private Infrastructure Devel- Uganda.
opment Group has backed in Uganda. “Nyamwamba ll will deliver green energy that
“Design, construction and installation was will stimulate economic activity in a rural region,
done by SAEMS Hydro from Uganda, with unlock supressed demand for power, reduce
Andritz Hydro of Germany as the electrome- transmission losses and improve the stability of
chanical supplier,” Emerging Africa Infrastruc- Uganda’s electricity grid,” he said.
ture Fund said in a May 30 press release. Uganda’s government plans to set up an
The project includes a 5.5km transmission industrial park in Kasese district, focused on
line delivering power to the grid. Three out of 10 food and raw materials processing, leading to
people in rural Uganda have access to electricity. increased demand of 50MW-100MW.
Nyamwamba will support Sustainable Devel- African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) pro-
opment Goals 7 and 13 by improving access to vided the Regional Liquidity Support Facility
electricity for thousands of grid-connected users (RLSF), a guarantee instrument designed to
while minimising emissions. address short-term liquidity risk faced by inde-
Serengeti development director Wilfred pendent power producers that sell electricity to
van den Bos said EAIF’s loan allows the firm to state-owned power utilities across sub-Saharan
unlock and redeploy construction equity capi- Africa.
tal in the funding of other greenfield renewable “As we close the first phase of this unique
energy plants in Sub-Sahara Africa. liquidity instrument, we are proud to have sup-
“We would like to appreciate EAIF in sup- ported a total installed capacity of 116.3 MW
porting this project and as such our mandate to of new renewable energy power plants across
develop, construct and operate small to medi- Burundi, Malawi and Uganda in turn enabling
um-sized renewable energy projects that builds $170.5 mn in total project financing,” said ATI
capacity, improves reliability and contributes to in an update on LinkedIn.™
Africa’s sustainable economic development,” he
said.

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