UK Based Cluff Geothermal Plans Energy Exploration, Generation in Uganda

Cluff Geothermal Ltd., a U.K.-based company, plans to invest in geothermal exploration and generation in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni’s office said.

The company, with projects in northeast England and in the East African Rift Valley, was attracted to Uganda because of its “big thermal energy potential,” which may generate “cheap and affordable” electricity, the presidency said in a statement today from Kampala, the capital. Museveni met Cluff Geothermal Managing Director George Percy yesterday at Kisozi, in Uganda’s central region.

Uganda, East Africa’s third-biggest economy, has regular nationwide outages amid a power deficit, with production at 395 megawatts and consumption at as much as 450 megawatts, Julius Wandera, the spokesman of the state-run Electricity Regulation Authority, said today in a phone interview from Kampala, the capital.

Museveni favors government partnerships with private companies in the energy industry, according to the statement. The country plans to spend $13 billion on infrastructure development, including on energy projects, in the next five years, his office said yesterday.

Bloomberg
25-May-2012