*Hallo Patience Nyangoma,* * You say "Uganda is endowed with plenty of sunshine giving solar radiation annual average range of about 4.7 and 7.6 KWh/m2 per day and annual mean national isolation of 5.1 KMh/m2 per day."
**What kind of measure is 5.1 KMh/m2? Otherwise, thank you for highlighting geothermal energy. Thermocoupling technology is becoming more and more efficient by the day. This resource is going to be with us for 'ever'. (In the earth's interior, there will always be heat from radio-activity). It is clean. The are costs of generating the energy are zero. (It is free) *====================== Are biofuels the right choice for Ugandans? Patience Nyangoma Currently Uganda is facing energy scarcity. The electricity supply rate has remained very low with grid access of only 9 per cent and yet energy demand has continued to rise. The demand is estimated to grow at rate of 7-8 per cent per annum which calls for increased power generation. The government of Uganda is studying ways to meet the rising demand by other indigenous energy sources and biofuels are one of the preferred sources by government. Recently the US Trade and Development Agency and Uganda's Ministry of Energy signed a $572,000 (Shs972m) grant to develop the potential for a biofuels market in a bid to address the growing power demand. But the question is about land availability for the initiative and the impact it will have on farmers, food production, forests and indigenous people. A lot of studies have been carried out and very serious risks of biofuels have been highlighted which include forest destruction, creation of food scarcity and creation of land wrangles. These are serious risks as far as Uganda is concerned because it means most of our gazetted forests like Mabira will be gone. Ugandans will also experience more land wrangles where most "bibanja" holders are likely to face expulsions by the land owners and the rich. This situation is already happening in Uganda. Also where biofuels turn out to be more profitable than food production, it will lead to pressure on farmers and large companies to increase production of agrofuels at the expense of food crops. There are other many renewable energy sources that are being supported by the renewable energy policy which, when developed, will not pose the above risks and some of them include solar energy and geothermal. Uganda is endowed with plenty of sunshine giving solar radiation annual average range of about 4.7 and 7.6 KWh/m2 per day and annual mean national isolation of 5.1 KMh/m2 per day. With land area of 235036 Sq km, Uganda receives 1198 million Megawatt per hour per day worth of isolation. This level is quite favourable for all solar technology applications in Uganda which include solar photovoltaic (PV), solar water heating, water pumping, cooling and crop drying. However this technology has not been extensively adopted due to its high initial money for the installation and lack of capacity in the country to manage and implement as well as replicating the technology at grassroots level. The geothermal resources have been identified in the Rift Valley region in Western Uganda. Some preliminary studies have been carried out which indicate a potential of 450MW. Since this is in an agriculturally rich area, there is potential for using this resource for commercial food processing, using direct thermal energy and electric power. There is however need to carry out detailed exploration to quantify the available resource capacity. Many initiatives have been put in place before for financing mechanisms like Rural Transformation Project, various studies carried out and strategies developed for resource mobilisation. However more bold initiatives have to be undertaken. What's lacking is research and capacity building in form of training and financial support. Ms Nyangoma is in charge of renewable energy efficiency at Africa Institute for Energy Governance [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Related articles*
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