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While Gulf national oil companies like QatarEnergy and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) have focused most of their attention on Africa's upstream oil and gas opportunities there are still openings for investors in Africa’s refining sector.

Solargen has commissioned a solar and battery energy storage system, bringing electricity to Uganda’s Bussi Island on Lake Victoria for the first time.

State utility Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL) has synchronised the sixth and final unit of the Karuma hydroelectric power plant to the grid.

The United Arab Emirates has stepped in to finance Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s long-desired oil refinery, as the UAE ramps up its sub-Saharan business activity. Junior foreign minister Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan has been making yet more visits around the continent, also taking in Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola’s Cabinda enclave in January.

It is unlikely electric cars will come to dominate African roads for decades, but in the likes of Kenya and Benin battery-powered buses, motorbikes and industrial vehicles could have a radical impact on urban environments and commercial operations. Investors are lining up to support e-mobility projects in the most attractive markets, but in many jurisdictions the lack of capital, infrastructure and policy support and the high cost of vehicles are holding back what could be a revolution, write Tonderayi Mukeredzi and Jon Marks.

UAE-based players have used COP28 to commit – and recommit – to projects that could supply over 12GW of renewables capacity across Africa. Emiratis argue this displays a willingness to push projects forward and shoulder risk, while others have failed to deliver – and if critics complain they are also prominent in the oil lobby, Abu Dhabi can counter that the UAE has assumed a leading role in enabling Africa’s energy transition.

Dodoma and Kampala have signed a bilateral agreement to jointly fund a feasibility study for a new pipeline to send gas from southern Tanzania to Uganda.

With oil field developments proceeding at pace, the Kampala government has signalled its intention to play a more robust role in economic management, with plans to renationalise the electricity distribution network and take an expensive majority stake in the Kabalega refinery development. Meanwhile financing for the Eacop pipeline is expected to close soon, with Chinese lenders stepping in where western financiers have refused to go, writes Marc Howard, recently in Kampala and Hoima.

With first oil expected from Lake Albert by early 2026, an array of associated infrastructure is under development, including the controversial Eacop pipeline. Shunned by western financiers, Chinese debt is expected to rescue Eacop, with a financing package due to be finalised in the coming weeks. Kampala has also signalled its appetite to intervene in energy markets by taking a majority stake in the Kabalega refinery, writes Marc Howard in Hoima.

Were projects assessed solely on their economic and social impact, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) and Lake Albert would probably be widely praised. Uganda needs both the energy and investment the projects bring. But the projects have drawn fierce criticism from environmental campaigners and NGOs, in Uganda and beyond in a concerted, high-profile campaign that has registered successes.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline project has attracted strong opposition from environment pressure groups intent on stopping new oil and gas developments. However, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) permanent secretary Irene Bateebe told African Energy the project would help Uganda’s energy transition plans.

The European Union is providing funds to rehabilitate the government-owned and operated Nalubaale and Kiira hydroelectric power (HEP) plants, which form a two-dam complex on the River Nile at Jinja.

The state-owned Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) is looking to commercialise the country’s Rift Valley geothermal potential – estimated to be some 1.5GW – and is encouraging private investors to submit interest.

Uganda has got itself into hot water with donors and investors on several fronts, but President Yoweri Museveni’s new Anti-Homosexual Law and his robust response to the campaign against the controversial Eacop pipeline play very differently to a domestic audience. As Museveni has taken umbrage at ‘being lectured to’, finding a way out of the donor row will be a tough challenge for all concerned, writes Thalia Griffiths.

Dubai-headquartered Amea Power has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with state utility Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (UETCL) for a solar PV project.