Geothermal power. Today a lightbulb went off in my head… Months ago I heard this story and thought… “what a shame, destroying all that natural beauty and losing that tourist money!” Quickly followed by, “but they need electricity… what choice would I make?” And yesterday I heard this story… Which got me thinking; “what a shame that Uganda can’t do that!” Well when I as thinking about what to blog on today I did a bit of research. And low and behold! What did I find? A report that talks about that very thing! So, interesting thought… had by others and still, no one is even considering it for Uganda. (well, they maybe might think about it, soon… you know SOON… wink) Why?

Well, interestingly this project seems to have been predetermined. No one did a study of the most efficient, cost effective, least impactful solution to the energy shortage in Uganda. Nope. The next thing on the World Bank’s list seems to be Hydro-electric power for Uganda. Never mind that it might not be the best choice for Uganda… what with the expense, the long lead time, and all the corruption surrounding this project from the beginning it is a shame to see that much money go toward a bad project. It is hard to argue against any kind of power-generation for Uganda, since it needs it desperately, seems a little too much like kicking a man where it hurts. But if you can get it better, cheaper, faster and still keep tourist dollars and not dislocate people, it seems criminal not to even consider it.

What strikes me the most about this story on Iceland is that they have moved from one of the poorest nations in Europe to one of the wealthiest and not only that, they have innovated to the point were they make money on the very thing that pulled them up out of that particular hole. Uganda has a geothermal potential of 450 MW. The Bujagali plant will only have a 250MW capacity at a potential cost of $530 million to build and potential cost to consumers undetermined… with the International Finance Corporation optimistically thinking that electricity rates will only increase by 17% by 2011 and the environmentalists claiming that no Ugandan’s will be able to afford the 11 fold price increase and the politicos claiming that Bujagali is a critical piece of the energy solution in Uganda… it is hard to know who is right. Since it seems to be a done deal, I truly hope that the sacrifices that are being made and the money that is being spent are worth what you are going to get. That this is the best solution for the problem at hand. Time will tell