Umeme secures approval for Shs5b Entebbe substation

Umeme has secured approval from Electricity Regulatory Authority to build a $1.380m (Shs5b) substation in Nakasamba, Entebbe.

The substation will help in tempering voltage picked from the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) substation – also in Entebbe - to levels safe for use by domestic and commercial consumers.

Among the customers the new facility will serve is Entebbe International Airport, which is currently being expanded.

“Nakasamba substation will address the demand growth in Entebbe and evacuate power from the UETCL Entebbe substation,” Mr Johnson Okochi, the Umeme projects investment manager, said on Tuesday, adding that increased capacity will reduce suppressed demand at Entebbe International Airport.

The airport, built in the 1950s, and whose expansion commenced in 2015, will require an additional two to four megawatts of power in the short to medium term.

Phase one of the extension, which ran from 2015 to 2018, involved construction of a bigger passenger terminal to cope with the increase in the number of travellers.

During the second phase (2019 to 2024), the contractor will expand the aircraft apron, car park and put up electricity poles and cables, among other activities.

Umeme is now in the process of procuring land for the substation, which will be followed by the invitation of bids for the contract and projects that the substation will be up and running by mid-December.

As of 2018, Umeme had 23 substations, up from 12 in 2005 when it got the concession to operate and maintain the power distribution network.

Over the same period, it has added close to 7,000 transformers to the network, bringing the total to 12,631.

UETCL, on the other hand, currently has 21 substations spread across Uganda and intends to add at least 29 new ones by the end of the 2021/22 financial year.