A project lead by the UEGCL & BCN HYDRO Renewables
UEGCL (Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited) is a corporate body, incorporated under the Companies Act (Cap 110), the Laws of Uganda and in conformity with the Electricity Act, 1999. The company was incorporated in March 2001 to operate and maintain the formerly UEB’s Generation Stations at Nalubaale and Kiira Power Stations, and to complete the construction of Kiira Power Station.
BCN hydro renewables is an engineering and services company for green energy generation projects. BCN Hydro's engineers offer a full range of consultancy services for the optimisation and integrated monitoring of hydro and other green energy projects.
“With a strong partnership between all stakeholders, we are convinced that our AI- and big data-based solution will help maintain optimum production capacity at Isimba, and we are looking forward to the first results from the predictive algorithms,“ says Alexander Balcells, General Manager at BCN Hydro Renewables.
Context
Uganda is highly reliant on hydropower as it currently provides the lowest tariff to the national grid. However, inspection and repair of hydro-mechanical equipment are costly, time-consuming, and reduce electricity availability.
“We have chosen the Isimba hydropower plant as the first test for this innovative, digital solution, and are looking to scale up to the other hydropower plants in the country,” says Allan Kasedde, Research Officer at Uganda Electricity Generation Company. The plant is one of the biggest in the country in terms of capacity so stakes for optimized running of the plant are high.
Operations and maintenance support for the plant is currently provided by global energy leader EDF, who will also be involved in technical assistance.
Objectives
BCN Hydro Renewables’ innovative monitoring solution will help reduce fault identification time and enhance the root cause analysis of incidents on the hydro-mechanical equipment in Uganda Electricity Generation Company’s hydropower plants.
