1.3 Objectives of the study
Despite the implementation of the sector reforms,
the country continues to experience significant power
supply shortages, low rates of access to electricity,
and high levels of power losses, all of which negatively impact on the country’s economic growth. This
study interrogated the nature of enablers and drawbacks associated with the status quo. Ultimately, it is
hoped that the findings will serve to inform the ongoing review of the National Draft Energy Policy of 2019.
With hindsight on the state of policy implementation,
policy makers should be able to develop appropriate
response strategies to address the existing impediments to renewable energy policy implementation in
the country.
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In order to deepen the analysis of the state of renewable
energy policy implementation in Uganda, the study
was guided by two concepts established under the
theory of public policy; the concept of public policy
implementation and the concept of public policy scenarios. The former is defined as an activity undertaken
by the executor of the policy in the hope of obtaining
an outcome in accordance with the goals or objectives
of a policy itself (Edwards III, 1980). It describes the
factors that influence public policy implementation.
Such include communication, resources, disposition,
and bureaucratic structures. The Public Policy Scenario concept was defined by Mowery and Rosenberg
(1979) to mean a learning process that seeks to orients
an organization to future dynamics that may justify the
alteration of the status quo.
Quite relatedly, according to Grindle (1980), two
issues influence the variability of success of policy
implementation: the policy content and the context
of implementation. The policy content covers a wide
spectrum of issues ranging from the extent to which
group interests are integrated within the policy, the
achievable group benefits, the extent of association
between desired change, and the policy targets. It also
encompasses the correctness of the implementationsetting of the program, the detail of policy implementation specifications as well as the adequacy of resource
allocation to the implementation effort. The policy
context meanwhile concerns the implementation environment, which constitutes the nature of strategies that
aid policy implementation, the power to implement,
institutional dynamics, character of the regimes in
power, as well as the level of target group compliance
and responsiveness.
Malik et al. (2019) further examined the policies,
enablers, and drawbacks to renewable energy deployment for promoting environmental sustainability in
the Gulf corporation council. They found that the
need for economic diversification to reduce reliance
on a single resource enhanced the effort to implement renewable energy initiatives. Additionally, due
to the diminished hydrocarbon reserves, loss of oil
export revenue, climate change, and the associated
mitigation pledges together with the abundant solar
energy resource, diversifying energy resources to
renewable energy was found to be inevitable. However, due to the apparent lack of combined policy
framework for wide-scale renewable energy consumption the renewable energy resource development was
curtailed.
According to Ahlborg and Hammar (2014), upon
scrutinizing the state of enablers and drawbacks to
rural electrification in Tanzania and Mozambiquegrid extension, off-grid and renewable technologies,
they found that political ambitions based on expected
growth of demand was a key enabler to the growth
of renewable energy; however, the bottom-up enablers
such as local initiatives from industries or churches
also contributed immensely to the success of policy
implementation. The drawbacks were related to lack
of access to human capital, hitches ranging from planning to donor dependency, to low rural market, less
interest from private sector, and to technical matters.
In addition, Khuong, McKenna, and Fichtner (2018)
examined the enablers of renewable energy development in Southeast Asian countries and found that
there was tremendous economic growth which had
emerged from the impetus of renewable energy development. Furthermore, Mezher, Dawelbait, and Abbas
(2012) studied renewable energy policy choices for
Abu Dhabi. They found that climate change and fossil fuel depletion were the main enablers for the latest
growth in renewable energy (RE) resources. However,
despite these findings, the high cost of RE technologies had turned out to be the main hindrance to the
diffusion of RE power generation.
2.1 State of Uganda’s energy sector
Given the small nature of Uganda’s economy, both
the context and content issues are glaring; largescale industrialization has been slow and as such
there has been limited growth among large-scale
consumers, which has consequently led to a mismatch in energy supply and demand (Meyer, Eberhard & Gratwick, 2018). Installed generation capacity
increased to 1,252.4 MW with peak demand at 723.76
MW by the end of December 2019 (BMAU, 2020).
Despite the mismatch, the local financing that would
otherwise support the growth in demand in renewable
energy is greatly impaired by the unfavorably high
bank lending rates. The local capital market thus barely
meets the financial requirements for long-term investments (Meyer, Eberhard, & Gratwick, 2018). Attempts
by the Central Bank to reduce the commercial interest rates through the reduction of the Central Bank
Rate to 10%, and now 7% during COVID-19, have
consistently not attracted similar response from the
commercial banks whose lending rates remain oscillating above 18%. Ultimately, besides limiting the
growth in the consumer base, the funding for electricity capital development has largely been foreign
sourced. Such funding came with quite unfair contractual obligations which resulted in the Government of
218
Despite the implementation of the sector reforms,
the country continues to experience significant power
supply shortages, low rates of access to electricity,
and high levels of power losses, all of which negatively impact on the country’s economic growth. This
study interrogated the nature of enablers and drawbacks associated with the status quo. Ultimately, it is
hoped that the findings will serve to inform the ongoing review of the National Draft Energy Policy of 2019.
With hindsight on the state of policy implementation,
policy makers should be able to develop appropriate
response strategies to address the existing impediments to renewable energy policy implementation in
the country.
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In order to deepen the analysis of the state of renewable
energy policy implementation in Uganda, the study
was guided by two concepts established under the
theory of public policy; the concept of public policy
implementation and the concept of public policy scenarios. The former is defined as an activity undertaken
by the executor of the policy in the hope of obtaining
an outcome in accordance with the goals or objectives
of a policy itself (Edwards III, 1980). It describes the
factors that influence public policy implementation.
Such include communication, resources, disposition,
and bureaucratic structures. The Public Policy Scenario concept was defined by Mowery and Rosenberg
(1979) to mean a learning process that seeks to orients
an organization to future dynamics that may justify the
alteration of the status quo.
Quite relatedly, according to Grindle (1980), two
issues influence the variability of success of policy
implementation: the policy content and the context
of implementation. The policy content covers a wide
spectrum of issues ranging from the extent to which
group interests are integrated within the policy, the
achievable group benefits, the extent of association
between desired change, and the policy targets. It also
encompasses the correctness of the implementationsetting of the program, the detail of policy implementation specifications as well as the adequacy of resource
allocation to the implementation effort. The policy
context meanwhile concerns the implementation environment, which constitutes the nature of strategies that
aid policy implementation, the power to implement,
institutional dynamics, character of the regimes in
power, as well as the level of target group compliance
and responsiveness.
Malik et al. (2019) further examined the policies,
enablers, and drawbacks to renewable energy deployment for promoting environmental sustainability in
the Gulf corporation council. They found that the
need for economic diversification to reduce reliance
on a single resource enhanced the effort to implement renewable energy initiatives. Additionally, due
to the diminished hydrocarbon reserves, loss of oil
export revenue, climate change, and the associated
mitigation pledges together with the abundant solar
energy resource, diversifying energy resources to
renewable energy was found to be inevitable. However, due to the apparent lack of combined policy
framework for wide-scale renewable energy consumption the renewable energy resource development was
curtailed.
According to Ahlborg and Hammar (2014), upon
scrutinizing the state of enablers and drawbacks to
rural electrification in Tanzania and Mozambiquegrid extension, off-grid and renewable technologies,
they found that political ambitions based on expected
growth of demand was a key enabler to the growth
of renewable energy; however, the bottom-up enablers
such as local initiatives from industries or churches
also contributed immensely to the success of policy
implementation. The drawbacks were related to lack
of access to human capital, hitches ranging from planning to donor dependency, to low rural market, less
interest from private sector, and to technical matters.
In addition, Khuong, McKenna, and Fichtner (2018)
examined the enablers of renewable energy development in Southeast Asian countries and found that
there was tremendous economic growth which had
emerged from the impetus of renewable energy development. Furthermore, Mezher, Dawelbait, and Abbas
(2012) studied renewable energy policy choices for
Abu Dhabi. They found that climate change and fossil fuel depletion were the main enablers for the latest
growth in renewable energy (RE) resources. However,
despite these findings, the high cost of RE technologies had turned out to be the main hindrance to the
diffusion of RE power generation.
2.1 State of Uganda’s energy sector
Given the small nature of Uganda’s economy, both
the context and content issues are glaring; largescale industrialization has been slow and as such
there has been limited growth among large-scale
consumers, which has consequently led to a mismatch in energy supply and demand (Meyer, Eberhard & Gratwick, 2018). Installed generation capacity
increased to 1,252.4 MW with peak demand at 723.76
MW by the end of December 2019 (BMAU, 2020).
Despite the mismatch, the local financing that would
otherwise support the growth in demand in renewable
energy is greatly impaired by the unfavorably high
bank lending rates. The local capital market thus barely
meets the financial requirements for long-term investments (Meyer, Eberhard, & Gratwick, 2018). Attempts
by the Central Bank to reduce the commercial interest rates through the reduction of the Central Bank
Rate to 10%, and now 7% during COVID-19, have
consistently not attracted similar response from the
commercial banks whose lending rates remain oscillating above 18%. Ultimately, besides limiting the
growth in the consumer base, the funding for electricity capital development has largely been foreign
sourced. Such funding came with quite unfair contractual obligations which resulted in the Government of
218