
PA Technical Services will start testing the two units at its 4.7MW Kigwabya hydropower project in Kagadi district this month of July 2024, ahead of the start of commercial operations later this year. The tests are expected to last at least three weeks.
The testing of the units is the closest step that PA Technical Services will have taken to getting the project connected to the grid since construction started in May 2020. The project, which is located on River Nkusi, faced difficulties in mobilising investment capital while being rattled by the effects of Covid-19. The project owners have in the past written to the Electricity Regulatory Authority requesting for an amendment to their license that allows an extension to the date of commencement of commercial operations.
The Kigwabya project is PA Technical Services Ltd’s second hydropower project in Uganda after the company connected the 9.8MW Nkusi project to the grid more than five years ago.
The Kigwabya project is the third hydropower plant in Kagadi district. The other two include the 48MW Muzizi project, which is being developed by the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited, and the 6.5MW Timex Bukinda project. Electricity from the Kigwabya is expected to feed into the Hoima and Fort Portal transmission lines.