The World Bank in partnership with the Agency for Promoting Sustainable Development Initiatives (ASDI) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development will tomorrow, February 1, 2012 launch a pilot project for the promotion of bioelectricity in Uganda at Kayei Landing Site, Akokoro Sub-County,  Apac District.

Over 100 households in the area around Kayei Landing Site stand to benefit from 10 kilowatts of bioelectricity that will be produced by the project using a $150,000 grant from the World Bank-administered Africa Renewable Energy Access (AFREA) Trust Fund.

“The immediate target of this project is to produce electricity to power a cooling and drying facility for fish preservation, lighting for 100 households and powering a water purification plant,” said Sam Olili Egir, ASDI Project Manager.

AFREA, which is funded by the Netherlands Government, is meant to promote the development of renewable energy and accelerate access to modern energy through a number of Bank-executed and Recipient-executed activities, including technical assistance, advisory studies and investment grants targeted at various institutions including non-governmental organizations.

“This is the only project funded by the World Bank Biomass Energy Initiative for Africa in the category of increasing power capacity with bioelectricity as a pilot that will be replicated not only in Uganda but Africa as a whole,” said Syed Waqar Haider, Sector Leader for Biomass Energy Initiative for Africa.

The Apac project involves technology transfer for electricity generation from biodegradable wastes (water hyacinth, grass, kitchen waste, market waste, fish waste, agricultural waste etc) for electricity generation. The project is intended to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of providing electricity to a rural community from renewable energy and how decentralized production of renewable energy out of biomass can contribute to solving the energy shortage in rural areas.

The project is located at the Kayei Landing Site in a community with about 5,000 people that have no electricity access. The major economic activity in this area is fishing resulting in large volumes of fish and fish waste. The fish are normally sold off fresh and cheaply because of lack of refrigeration. The availability of electricity would allow for refrigeration and could improve the viability of the fishing business.

It is expected that after the project is completed within a year, the beneficiary households will substitute biogas for kerosene in their homes and petrol used by generators in the village. The project has training and research component to promote more efficient feedstock supply and efficient use of biogas slurry