Mpigi district has for the past decades faced challenges of unreliable power supply greatly affecting the business community who largely rely on hydro power as the main source of electricity.
Many complain that the constant blackouts in the areas have caused them huge losses while they remained with no alternative power source.
Shamim Naggayi a restaurant owner in Mpigi town recounts a scenario when the whole town was experiencing a power blackout yet she had made just her fresh fruit juice in the freezer. For three consecutive days, there remained no power in areas causing her juice to get spoiled.
” I had just restocked my fridge with soft drinks and 20 liters of passion fruit juice and hope powered would come back soon only for it to take three days!! All my juice went bad and I just poured it without selling yet I had used a lot of money to buy the fruits and sugar”, says Naggayi.
Naggayi’s story is similar to that of Henry Mugabo who runs a dairy shop in the outskirts of Mpigi town; Mugabo explains that he now stocks a few jericans of Milk to minimise losses once there is a blackout.
” A few weeks ago, our areas suffered a power blackout reportedly cause by a transformer malfunction, I panicked because I had a lot of milk in the refrigerators, I prayed that the issue is rectify soon enough bout this didn’t happen, the next day all my milk was bad, I poured yet I had even got it on credit’ Mugabo narrated.
The disgruntled residents can only pray that a reliable source of energy is established in their areas so protect them against such losses.
It is against this backdrop that Sun King Uganda, a solar company has launched and opened up a branch office in the area to cushion the residents against losses incurred during power blackouts. Located in the heart of Mpigi town, the branch will offer a wide range of smarter and affordable solar solutions in the area.
Peter Mugwanya, Country business leader, Sun King Uganda noted that they have a wide range of solar product to address the different need of power consumers; among these products are lanterns, home solar systems as well as large scale solar products like solar inverters.
” We have a wide range of products like the lanterns like the boom and pro lanterns, we also have entry level home solar system with with three or four lights and these can also powered home appliances like TVs and radios. We also have inverters that can power businesses, hospitals and schools, all these products can offer a reliable source of energy for everyone”, says Mugwanya.
Mugwanya adds that the company offers a Pay-as-you-go financing systems to make it more affordable for the both household and commercials consumers.
” We make sure that we provide this solar on an affordable scale; what a customer does is to pay a small deposit and then they’ll continue paying a small amount of money weekly for a period of 13 months, after that the solar system becomes entirely theirs.”
With only 28% of the population having access to electricity, Uganda presents a huge market potential for alternative technologies to provide electricity such as solar PV systems.
The 2018 National Electrification Survey data collected by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) show that approximately 5.3 million households lack access to electricity, thus the total market potential. Over 60% of households lack access to electricity due to supply-side gaps also known as absence of coverage while the rest of the households have coverage but lack access due to demand side limitations especially finances.
A sector brief on renewable energy by GIZ- Uganda revealed that Solar energy in Uganda has the highest adoption rate among all renewable energy options with average solar radiation of 5.1kWh/m2/day, with the current solar data showing that solar energy is high throughout the year with a variation hence making it one of the most reliable and sustainable source of energy.
