About

Kwanza Infrastructure Group (Kwanza) is a Ugandan renewable power developer with an active approach to working with energy sector regulators. Kwanza’s planned power development pipeline begins with two run-of-river hydropower projects in the Mount Elgon area of Eastern Uganda: two turbines on the Simu and Sisi River sharing a powerhouse, and another on the Ngenge River, amounting to a total capacity of 30 MW. 

Eastern Uganda grapples with poor power quality, unreliable supply and significant technical losses, due to the lack of power capacity and delays in onboarding of the needed power projects – all exacerbated by insufficient or inefficient low-voltage transmission lines and lack of a high voltage transmission grid in the region. A 10% annual growth in demand across Uganda is projected to outstrip supply by 2027/2028. Although there is 2,051 MW of national installed capacity –  the technical losses due to transmission bottlenecks, among others, lead to an effective or available capacity of about 1,300 MW. 

In Kwanza’s case, the Simu and Sisi hydro projects are approved and licensed, with power purchase agreements in place. However, the government can only purchase power that is transmitted to the grid – and the transmission capacity just is not there for these projects to pay off. 

Our support 

This was the situation when Kwanza met a GET.invest Finance Catalyst advisor at the Africa Energy Forum in 2023. They were interested in how GET.invest advisory services could pave the way to a financial close for the hydro projects. As they began working together, the advisor realised that the very low level of power dispatch was not going to improve unless Kwanza took the matter into their own hands. The advisor suggested pairing the hydro projects with something more unusual and ambitious: a privately managed high–voltage transmission grid for the area of Mount Elgon. 

In most of Africa, governments manage the transmission grids. But facing growing power demands, and realising its own resource constraints, at the end of 2023, Uganda’s government launched a regulatory framework for privately managed transmission lines – an idea Kwanza actively helped develop over several years. Kwanza is strategically placed to be among the first raising finance for a privately built and managed high-voltage transmission in Uganda, and possibly East Africa. Together with reputable international partners, Kwanza is securing a permit from Uganda’s regulator to develop a 132 kV overhead line from Bulambuli, beside Mount Elgon, to the major Moroto Substation 152 kilometres away. 

Such a new endeavour compounds the fundraising task that Kwanza has embarked on with GET.invest. Kwanza’s original codeveloper has meanwhile exited the hydro and transmission line projects, as part of a strategic reorientation of priorities, so the time is right to build an approach that fully integrates Kwanza’s vision for generation and transmission. The main focus of the GET.invest Finance Catalyst has been on crafting high-quality information memoranda for the projects – including a financial model for the transmission line – while assisting in negotiating the former codeveloper’s exit and raising interest among new partners for both the generation and transmission sides of the plan. 

The outcome

GET.invest is currently engaging Kwanza in discussions with investors who are interested in codeveloping the projects up to financial close. The potential of a privately managed transmission grid has raised a lot of interest. Climate funds, among others, are looking keenly at the essential role of transmission capacity across the continent for reaching energy access goals through renewable energy. 

With the high-voltage grid approved, the Simu, Sisi and Ngenge hydropower projects are set to reach their full potential, delivering their more than 30 MW of power to users and creating hundreds of green jobs. But this is only part of what the new high-voltage lines will enable. In the Mount Elgon area, at least 10 other run-of-river hydro projects and solar project are already in development, and some already operating at limited dispatch; all could lease capacity on the new lines, unlocking their full combined output of over 200 MW. Kwanza’s grid, serving a local network as well as connecting with the rest of Uganda, will contribute to more stable, lower-loss renewable energy for Eastern region of Uganda and the country as a whole. 

Disclaimer: This story was last updated in March 2025.