“Neither centralized or decentralized energy can end energy poverty alone. Together, the entire consortium will work with the Government of Uganda to achieve Uganda’s first successful interconnected mini-grid in June 2022, and identify approaches to replication and scale in order to accelerate energy access and deepen the benefits to the people of Uganda. In partnership with Makerere University and several Ugandan companies, Power for All will evaluate the socio-economic benefits of integrated energy and the effectiveness of the business models tests in pilot. With Twaake, Uganda joins a growing global network of integrated initiatives to accelerate access, drive demand and improve overall energy system performance. By helping customers move beyond access with appliance financing and financial literacy, the pilot project is expected to deliver jobs and improve incomes across both villages. Over 50 percent of the businesses in Kiwumu will receive asset financing to assist businesses with productive use. In Kiwumu, the pilot has deployed a 40kWp mini grid in Kiwumu, Mukono district in Uganda to power 300 households and 60 local businesses. Businesses that received asset financing increased their electricity consumption by over 50 percent and business revenues have increased by over 70 percent. The grid connected Nyenje has been operational since July 2020 with over 26 percent of businesses to date receiving income generating assets for the purpose of productive use. The integrated energy pilot is deployed across two sites: Nyenje (grid) and Kiwumu (non-grid DRE site). Through this integration, Uganda’s energy customers will derive more benefit for each kilowatt consumed, creating more opportunities for business, education, health, safety and overall quality of life. According to recent studies by Power for All and Duke University, connection costs can be reduced by 50 percent through reducing upfront capital cost by leveraging a utility’s ability to access cheaper capital while increasing the value of the customers through productive use applications that drive energy demand. Integrated energy combines centralized and decentralized technology (including solar home systems, mini-grids, grid, and smart grid systems) into an intelligent and interactive energy network that can deliver customer-centric, clean energy solutions to end energy poverty at the lowest cost and transform billions of lives faster than isolated approaches. The Utilities 2.0 Twaake pilot is designed to at least halve this cost by relying on integrated energy. With the average cost of grid extension connection at $1,400, off-grid extension is the sole method of service provision, the required investment would likely be in the range of USD $7 billion at USD-nearly a fifth of Uganda’s current annual GDP estimated at $35 million. In a country with only 28 percent of the population accessing electricity by the central grid, it would take over 10 million customers for Uganda to achieve universal access according to the World Bank. Led by Uganda’s largest power utility, Umeme, coordinated by Power for All and funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, the Utilities 2.0 Twaake pilot project unites Umeme Ltd, the centralized power utility company, and several leading Uganda-based distributed renewable energy companies (DREs) to provide affordable, reliable, and clean power for all in what has been described as the utilities of the future. Kampala, Monday, June 28th, 2021 –Today, a coalition of global energy sector leaders launched a first-of-its-kind integrated energy pilot in Uganda.