Thursday
March 7
2024
Press Release: GOGLA and USEA Sign Partnership to Scale up the Productive Use of Renewable Energy in Uganda
GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar industry, and USEA, the Uganda Solar Energy Association, with the support of the IKEA Foundation, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to scale up the Productive Use of Solar Energy in Uganda in the next four years.
The partnership seeks to enhance the use of renewable energy to improve food security and create economic empowerment in Uganda by:
- Enhancing collaboration between government representatives and off-grid solar companies in Uganda.
- Improving the enabling environment for the Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) markets at a national level, ensuring proper coordination between government agencies and other stakeholders.
- Increasing the availability of critical market data and actionable insights for PURE, generating more in-depth knowledge of PURE appliances, products, and solutions rolled out in the country.
- Improving the PURE ecosystem.
Key facts on productive uses of solar energy in Uganda
- In 2022, 28% of Ugandans had grid energy access and another 28% had access through off-grid solar solutions.
- Solar technologies offer a cost-effective and viable solution to improve last-mile electrification, supporting the realization of Uganda’s Vision 2040, which aims to increase national electrification access to 80% of the population.
- Income-generating technology like solar irrigation appears as a particularly promising avenue for social and economic impact for rural households, in a country where approximately 65% of the population works in the agricultural sector.
- In the North and in other water-stressed areas, solar water pumps and sprinklers can open more land for agricultural production, improve farmers’ incomes by diversifying crops and ensure crop yield despite unpredictable rainfall patterns.
- In the Western and Central dairy producing regions, a range of solar cooling solutions including direct current (DC) fridges and solar cold rooms can greatly benefit dairy communities, providing a solution to improve the 22.5 percent milk “spoil rate” at farm level.
- Other productive uses of solar energy lie in solar maize milling, coffee pulping and solar drying.
- In the health sector, hospitals and health centres are already using solar for lighting but solar cooling is emerging as an application for preserving vaccines, medicines, and samples.
- For MSMEs, solar energy kits (solar lanterns and home systems) are often used to provide light and power to enterprises e.g., to extend the operational hours of shops, stalls, or restaurants. Solar-powered appliances used in salons and beauty centres (clippers and dryers) and solar powered TVs and music systems used in cinema halls and entertainment centres.
Photo courtesy of Russell Watkins/DFID.
Source: GOGLA (link opens in a new window)
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- Energy, Technology
