Power to Be Made From Husks

Aug 07, 2007 - New Vision/All Africa Global Media

Kampala: With power shortage biting hard, a new technology that uses husks from plants and wild grass to generate electricity has been introduced.

Energy minister Daudi Migereko recently met a German entrepreneur, Water Danner, who is working on the 'gas-fire technology' project in Apac, according to a statement.

Gas fire technology uses waste from maize, millet and sorghum and other wild bushes and feeds them into the machine that generates electricity.

Migereko said there was also need to utilise solid waste and sewerage, which can be obtained from big towns like Kampala, Jinja, Mbale and Mbarara to produce power.

This kind of technology has already been introduced in Rwanda, he said.

Danner said Uganda was ideal for introduction of such technology because of the availability of fertile land. With at least two planting seasons he said, it was also possible to produce the required raw materials for the generation of electricity. It would require about 200 hectares to produce 1MW.

Danner is carrying out the project with Maruzi MP, David Ebong. The power could be used in tea factories and ginneries.