South Sudan has asked Uganda to urgently supply it with at least 100 Megawatts of electricity to boost its trade and industrialization, Uganda’s Monitor Newspaper reported.

Uganda’s State Minister for Energy, Okasaai Opolot directed the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (UETCL) to consider the deal and tap into South Sudan’s huge energy gap.

He was speaking at the commissioning of the 83MW Agago-Gulu transmission line and its associated sub-stations at Angagura Town Council in PAder District on Friday.

“I have just returned from a trip to South Sudan and we need to construct a line from Olwiyo to Juba. It is a priority line because our brothers and sisters in South Sudan do not have electricity and their hopes are in us,” he said. “They immediately want 100MW. There is a big market for our surplus electricity and we have got to see how to close that gap soon.”

He said his ministry has a vision not only to have transmission lines within the country but also to look at the Power Pool Market to trade out excess power that Uganda generates.

Uganda now boasts a generation capacity of slightly more than 2,000MW from 380MW in 2005, with more transmission projects under construction to deliver reliable power to different parts of the country, which are to be completed between 2024 and 2026.