A Ugandan and German team called ‘Agali Awamu’ has developed an ‘innovative and feasible’ solution for electricity and biogas supply in Uganda. The project was facilitated by the lab of tomorrow, an organisation run by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) formed to encourage ‘the private sector to engage in translating development challenges into business opportunities’. Agali Awamu has now been selected for further support to develop a business model as part of the pilot phase. Wood is currently used to cook in rural areas in Uganda and charcoal in urban areas, methods that contribute to climate change through emissions and deforestation, and damage health. According to Christof Langguth, sales representative of PlanET Biogastechnik from Germany, Uganda has an insufficient and unreliable power supply but a growing population and agri-food industry. He also emphasises that while off-grid, decentralised solutions are needed to replace fossil-generated energy, biogas plants are often prohibitively expensive at around €1000 in investment costs.
Source: Bioenergy Insight