Dutch development bank FMO is supporting the developments of run-of-river hydropower in Uganda by underwriting a US$39 million senior debt for the 16MW Rand and 6MW Nyamagasani 1 and 2 projects.
Located in Western Uganda, the projects are developed and owned by Rwenzori Hydro (Private) Limited and Nyamagasani 2 HPP Ltd. Both projects are majority owned by funds managed by Frontier Energy, a Danish private equity fund manager that is developing a portfolio of renewable energy independent power producers in Eastern Africa.
FMO acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Underwriter of the US$39 million facility, of which 40% is expected to be risk shared with Proparco shortly. These small run-of-the-river hydro power projects are the 4th and 5th hydro project FMO is financing with Frontier Energy in Uganda, totaling 47.5MW.
The projects are developed under the Global Energy Transfer Feed in Tariff (GET FiT), a dedicated support scheme for renewable energy projects managed by Germany’s KfW Development Bank in partnership with Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Agency (ERA) and funded by the governments of Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The GET FiT programme helps renewable energy sources become more affordable and therefore more accessible in Eastern Africa. GET FiT is providing a subsidy of in total €11.6 million in the form of result based premium payments per kWh of delivered electricity.
