Introduction
In 1999 the Government of Uganda closed the Uganda Electricity Board leading to the formation of three segments i.e. Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited, Uganda Electricity Distribution Company, and Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited. It was then that the West Nile Rural Electrification Company (WENRECo) acquired a license to generate, distribute, and sell electricity in the West Nile region in 2003. WENRECo is fully owned by Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), the business arm of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).
WENRECo inherited a customer base and network of less than 500 customers and 60km respectively within the districts of Nebbi and Arua. These customers were served using diesel gensets running on two islands in Arua and Nebbi, with a cumulative capacity of 1.28MW. The demand has since grown to approximately 7MW and the network has expanded to over 1,000km and 26,000 customers out of 3.2 million people in the region. Although the region has unique challenges, WENRECo has continued to prevail and innovate to meet the electricity needs of the region. The Nyagak I Hydro Power Plant (WENRECo-owned primary source of electricity) has an average of 98.7% availability and 83% utilization throughout the year 2023.
Improved Quality of Service (QoS)
WENRECo technical teams undertake rigorous technical analysis of the network performance to identify weak points that are potential causes of recurrent faults and outages negatively affecting the QoS. This analysis is then used to guide proactive interventions such as transformer injections, load balancing and transfer, system improvements, and pole replacements to permanently get rid of network faults.
Supply failure reported by the affected customer through a toll-free call center is relayed as a complaint to the faultsmen for resolution within a target period of 24 hours. This has resulted in improved service delivery, customer satisfaction, and exceptional regulatory compliance. WENRECo scored 94% in technical compliance in the annual compliance scorecard conducted by the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) in 2023.
Highly coordinated and efficient operations teams
The demand-supply disparity in the region means that WENRECo must operationally balance the system to avoid the collapse of generation due to overload. Much as the network lacks automation, efficient manual procedures have been developed and adopted by the highly coordinated operations team to ensure negligible failure. The team has developed highly specialized skills in analyzing and diagnosing system trip logs to discern fault type, nature, and location. This has resulted in highly fast and efficient operations characterized by minimum downtimes and limited outage impacts.
A pioneer in the integration of embedded generators into the distribution network
WENRECo has spearheaded in partnership with Energynautics-Germany, GIZ, Radio Pacis, and ERA, a study to evaluate smart grids and the impact of integrating embedded sources specifically solar plants into a distribution network. From this study, a technical guideline and standard shall be developed to facilitate such integrations nationwide. The study was concluded, and the report will be published within the third quarter of 2024.
Maximum utilization of the hydropower potential in the region
With West Nile not connected to the National grid, WENRECO constructed a 3.5MW hydropower plant across River Nyagak in Nyapea sub-county, Zombo district that was commissioned on 14th September 2012. The main objective of the plant is to generate safe, reliable, and high-quality electricity to sustain and foster development in the West Nile region.
Using two horizontally mounted Francis turbine-generator units with a capacity of 1.75MW each, Nyagak I Hydro Power Plant continuously and efficiently supplies power to the region. A temporary National Grid source from Olwiyo Substation supplements Nyagak I to meet the demand of the region.
Some of the factors that have led to Nyagak 1 Hydro-Electric Power Plant's (HEPP) emergence as an optimally operated power plant are.
- Existence of skilled manpower on-site and continuous improvement by training.
The plant is manned by both mechanical and electrical personnel who do operations and maintenance without requiring external support except for situations where specialized expertise and machinery are required to execute a project.
Training has been conducted both off and onsite to equip the staff with skills to effectively carry out major maintenance at the plant. Trainings like generator shaft alignment using modern technology, soft foot check and correction, vibration monitoring and analysis, and troubleshooting have been conducted enabling reliable condition monitoring at the plant.
- Frequency of parameter monitoring and modifications to optimize the plant.
Parameters are continuously monitored and recorded half-hourly and computed every 12 hours to ensure lapses and gaps in operations are dealt with before anomalies cause significant consequences to plant machinery. This guarantees that key plant performance indicators are tracked regularly resulting in the delivery of quality and reliable power to the region.
- Existence and adherence to a tight maintenance regimen.
An annual maintenance master plan was formulated by the plant management and is tracked by a designated Operations and Maintenance Supervisor to ensure an increase in Meantime Between Failures (MTBF) and a reduction in MDT that has kept the plant’s average availability at 98.7%. Daily and weekly inspections are carried out for all the civil structures and electromechanical equipment. These inspections guide what is carried out during the monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual maintenance activities around the plant.
- WENRECo has invested in stocking critical spares for both minor and major works at the plant reducing MDT. These are specific and have long lead times.
New horizons, opportunities, challenges, and WENRECo’s readiness
Given the electricity access in the region that stands at below 10%, there is a lot more to be done to increase penetration, access, and utilization of the resource. The region is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, a huge market for fast-moving goods and consumables. With the presence of the National grid in the region, there is a guarantee for sufficient and stable electricity to support manufacturing and industry. Currently, WENERCo is revamping the old sections of the medium voltage (MV) network, especially the backbone in preparation for the anticipated utilization of the resource, growth in demand, and installing lightning protection on the MV network. This is to step up the reliability and dependability of the MV network to have an uninterrupted supply in the service territory.
Conclusion
The West Nile region has had its unique energy challenges which by and large originated from its being an island of its own with internal generation. WENRECo being the sole licensee in the region has lived up to her mandate through the transitions, continuously evolving to keep up with the demands of the prevailing supply and demand environment. Today, WENRECo has systems in place to track and monitor the quality of supply, optimize operations, and improve and sustain the service. The administration is streamlined, and a performance management model and a conducive environment for professional growth are in place.