18 March 2008 - Alstom Hydro will supply hydro and electro-mechanical equipment, worth approximately €160m ($252m), for the new 255 MW Bujagali hydro-electric power plant located on the Nile river, Uganda.

Under the turnkey contract signed with Italian civil works constructor Salini Hydro, Alstom Hydro will provide five turbine/generator units, control and protection systems and balance of plant. Manufacturing will be shared among the Group's facilities in France, Switzerland and India.

The project is scheduled to be completed by 2011.

The Bujagali run-of-river scheme will reuse the water released from two existing upstream hydro plants, Nalubaale (180 MW) and Kiira (200 MW), which are currently the country's only important electricity generating facilities. Once commissioned, Bujagali is expected to relieve Uganda's acute power shortage.

The project is a public-private partnership between the Government of Uganda, a state-owned transmission company UETCL, and Bujagali Energy Ltd, a consortium of private sponsors. The project is backed by the World Bank, the European Development Bank and the African Development Bank.

Bujagali is Alstom Hydro's second project in Uganda after the Kiira hydropower plant (formerly known as the Owen Falls extension) where the company supplied most of the generation equipment.

The company's other references in Africa include Cahora Bassa (2075 MW) in Mozambique, Victoria Falls (108 MW), Kafue Gorge (900 MW) and Kariba (600 MW) in Zambia.