When people picture the future of energy in Africa, they usually picture generation — solar farms, hydropower, wind. But electricity is only useful if it can get from where it is made to where it is needed. That is the job of transmission: the high-voltage network that forms the backbone of every power system.
The overlooked half of the energy transition
Across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the transmission backbone is the binding constraint. New generation cannot reach demand without it; reliability suffers without it; and economic growth is capped without it. Strengthening transmission is, quite simply, one of the highest-impact things that can be done in the sector — and one of the most under-appreciated.
What Independent Power Transmission means
For decades, transmission has been built and owned almost entirely by the public sector. That is beginning to change. Independent Power Transmission (IPT) frameworks allow specialised private developers to develop and deliver transmission infrastructure alongside public institutions — bringing additional capacity, technical discipline and long-term focus to a part of the sector that has often struggled to keep pace with need. Done well, IPT does not replace the public system; it complements it, accelerating delivery of the grid that a growing economy requires.
Why it matters for Uganda
Uganda has put in place a framework to enable this kind of private participation in transmission — a forward-looking step that opens the door to new delivery capacity for the national grid. As demand grows and the country works to extend reliable power to every region, frameworks like this offer a practical way to mobilise additional expertise behind the public interest. The early projects under the framework will help set the standard for those that follow.
Bulambuli–Moroto: a model in practice
Kwanza Infrastructure Group is developing one such project: the Bulambuli–Moroto 132 kV transmission line in Eastern Uganda, comprising approximately 130 kilometres of double-circuit infrastructure between the Bulambuli and Moroto substations. Through one of our special purpose vehicles, the project recently secured a permit from Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) to advance its development. Beyond its own merits — reinforcing the grid and improving reliable supply toward north-eastern Uganda — the project is among those demonstrating how the IPT model can be put into practice on the ground.
What it takes to do this well
Transmission development is demanding work. It calls for rigorous technical and commercial study, careful environmental and social stewardship, close collaboration with government and the regulator, and a long-term commitment to seeing complex projects through. It is precisely the kind of disciplined, end-to-end development that Kwanza was built to do: originating opportunities, structuring them to the standards that make them credible and deliverable, and advancing them responsibly from concept toward reality.
The road ahead
The grid gap will not close on its own, and transmission will remain one of the defining challenges — and opportunities — of Africa’s energy future. Projects like Bulambuli–Moroto are a sign of what is possible when the right frameworks, the right developers and the right intent come together. We are proud to be advancing this work in Uganda, and we will continue to share our progress as the project moves forward.