Description

With an overall score of 1.52, Uganda was 10th out of the 55 countries in this year ’s Climatescope and third among African nations. It performed best on Parameter III, achieving 75% of the maximum parameter mark for its low-carbon value chains.

Seeking to achieve middle-income country status in 10 years, Uganda has nearly returned to macroeconomic stability after a series of shocks earlier this decade. The country’s non-large hydro clean energy sector attracted $307m from 2006-13, though annual investment ranged from $135m in 2008 to zero last year.

Uganda has a liberalized power sector but its electrification rate remains very modest at 14%. The Rural Electrification Agency is working to connect over 500,000 new customers to the main or independent grids, or to solar PV systems over 2013-22. The goal: universal access by 2035.

Uganda has been a renewable energy fledgling to date but the government hopes that its ‘GET FiT’ program will help change this. It aims to fast-track some 15-20 small renewable projects a year, through a results-based top-up on Uganda’s existing feedin tariff, as well as grant funding for solar PV projects.