From Johannesburg to Kampala, Africa’s digital ambitions are now inseparable from the strength of its power grids Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Africa’s digital economy is beginning to recast the continent’s electricity landscape, with data centres emerging alongside households, factories and mines as a significant new source of power demand. …
Read More »Uganda’s energy and extractives sector poised for growth in 2026
Kampala, Uganda | As 2025 closed, Uganda’s energy and extractives sector reached a pivotal moment, driven by accelerated infrastructure delivery, regulatory reform, and a strategic push to convert natural resource potential into economic growth. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development framed the year not as a series of isolated …
Read More »Energy will decide the AI race
COMMENT | VITTORIO QUAGLIONE | Data-center investments hint at a coming shift in the AI race. Soon, if not already, reliable, affordable electricity will confer the decisive advantage in the sector. As Albert O. Hirschman argued in National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade, an economy’s true power lies in its …
Read More »Absa Bank Uganda to facilitate UEDCL $50 million power distribution expansion plan
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Absa Bank Uganda and Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) have today announced the advancement of a five-year $50million, landmark financing facility to the electricity distributor to strengthen national power distribution. Officials said this landmark transaction marks a defining moment for Uganda’s energy sector, and …
Read More »Uganda’s energy development under Museveni
COMMENT | NNANDA KIZITO SSERUWAGI | President Yoweri Museveni views investment in energy as one of the fastest ways to transform a society and reduce poverty. Multiple studies back this perspective. One such study by the World Bank and the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that the single biggest driver of …
Read More »UEGCL struggles with Karuma dam costs as profit drops
The company operates four power stations — Nalubaale–Kiira, Isimba, Namanve and Karuma — with a combined installed capacity of 1,213MW Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL), the state-owned power producer, reported a sharp fall in annual profit for the 2024/25 financial year, underscoring the …
Read More »Trouble brewing at UEDCL
Why the new electricity distributor is under fire from both the ministry and the regulator THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Daily Monitor reported on Friday, December 5, 2025, that the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabanja, had stopped the minister of energy from firing the top …
Read More »How mining companies are undermining Uganda’s EITI bid
A defiant mining industry is testing whether transparency in Uganda’s extractive sector can survive on goodwill alone Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | When Gloria Mugambe, the Head of Uganda’s EITI Secretariat (UGEITI) stepped up to the podium at the launch of the country’s Fourth Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Report …
Read More »South Africa’s energy transition goes big
Africa’s largest CO2 emitter has unveiled an ambitious plan that could redefine how the region tackles climate change. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Pretoria’s R2.23 trillion (approx. $128 billion USD) Integrated Resource Plan 2025 sets out to halve the country’s reliance on coal and add more than 100 gigawatts of …
Read More »U.S. energy department terminates hundreds of clean energy projects
WASHINGTON | Xinhua | The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday announced the termination of 223 projects, most of them clean energy and renewable initiatives funded under the Biden administration. In a press release, the department said that it had identified 321 financial awards supporting 223 projects that it decided …
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