Until recently, average load-shedding (power cuts) in Uganda occurred 12 hours per day. With Bujagali’s five turbines providing up to 250 megawatts of generating capacity, load shedding has been eliminated. Bujagali Hydropower is currently meeting 49% of the country’s electricity needs. - Photo: AKDN

Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL) was set up as a public-private partnership bringing together the Government of Uganda, Industrial Promotion Services (the infrastructure arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development), Sithe Global (a company majority-owned by the Blackstone Group) and Jubilee Insurance. - Photo: AKDN

The lack of a steady electricity supply has hampered economic growth. With the addition of Bujagali hydropower to the grid, the steady supply of power allows businesses of all sizes to extend their service hours, expand their operations and attract investment. - Photo: AKDN

Frequent load-shedding led many institutions, like schools, universities and hospitals, to maintain costly diesel generators. A reliable supply of electricity has allowed these institutions to reduce the overall costs of energy while offering better services, such as night classes at universities and diagnostic tests at clinics. - Photo: AKDN

With the commissioning of Bujagali hydropower, the proportion of Uganda's electricity supply being generated from renewable sources rose to 90%, making the country's electricity supply one of the cleanest in the world. Bujagali is expected to generate an estimated 900,000 Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) per year (each CER offsets one tonne of carbon emissions) making it the largest Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in Africa and in any Least Developed Country. On 29 December 2011, the project was formally registered at the UNFCCC under the Kyoto Protocol. - Photo: AKDN

The Bujagali project includes a comprehensive social programme that seeks to restore – and improve – the livelihoods of local communities. BEL is committed to spending US$ 2.8 million on projects ranging from environmental conservation to health, from sanitation to education, agriculture to vocational training, as well as other community development programmes. - Photo: AKDN

BEL has worked with the Government of Uganda and tour operators to develop additional tourist facilities in the downstream Kalagala Falls area. The lake that has formed behind the dam has also created new leisure and tourism activities, including popular sunset cruises and bird watching tours. Tourism has risen 10%, according to local tour operators. - Photo: AKDN