By Philip Buda Ladu
The Minister of Energy and Dams, Peter Marcello, is urging the national Ministry of Finance to urgently pay a $30 million to a company that constructed the first solar power plant in Juba County, as the government faces a lawsuit over the matter.
The government, through the Ministry of Energy and Dams, contracted Egyptian company El Sewedy Electric to build the country’s first large-scale photovoltaic power project.
In 2021, the installation of a 20 MW solar project began at South Sudan’s first solar farm, located in the Nesitu area along the Juba-Torit highway, some 20 kilometres from the city centre.
The clean energy project cost of over $45 million was being financed by the African Export-Import Bank. It includes a 20 megawatt solar generation system and a 35 megawatt-hour storage system.
The project is expected to generate a total of 20 megawatts of electricity.
According to El Sewedy Electric, the new solar power plant will supply 59,000 households in Juba city with power after its commissioning within 12 months. However, to date, the power plant has yet to be inaugurated, despite announced plans.
In April 2024, President Salva Kiir stated in his speech at the inauguration of the national parliament that the government plans to launch the 20-megawatt solar power plant situated in the Nesitu area of Juba County.
The head of state emphasized that the 20-megawatt power plant will provide a crucial boost to the energy supply in Juba City, adding that the government is working to finalize the project before its commissioning.
Speaking during regular Council of Ministers meeting on Friday, the Minister of Energy and Dam, Peter Marcello raised a serious concern about the Nesitu solar project.
He informed the cabinet that the government has been dragged to the court of arbitration in the United States for settlement of business-related disputes for failing to pay $30 million for the construction of the hyper solar power plant.
Jacob Maiju Korok, the deputy minister of information said the company has taken the government to court, demanding the payment of the outstanding $30 million loan.
“The whole amount was actually fifty million dollars for the project, but the government managed to pay 20 and the remaining is 30 million USD,” he told journalists on Friday.
“So the company decided to take the government to the court of arbitration in the US, and Minister Marcello asked the ministry of finance to handle this issue before even moving further to the court,” Korok echoed.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, South Sudan has so far produced a total of only 18 megawatts of solar power, all of which are privately owned and off-grid.
South Sudan, a country with a low percentage of electricity, relies mostly on fossil fuel generators for household electricity.
In 2018, Ezra Group, an Eritrean firm, inaugurated the first 30 megawatts of the proposed 100 megawatts of fossil fuel power capacity at a cost of nearly $290 million.
Currently, the Ezra power plant supplies Juba City with about 30 megawatts of electricity, but it is characterized by frequent load shedding and power blackouts.
The government said it would repay Ezra over a period of over 17 years by charging higher electricity rates.
Previously, the government announced plans to invest in the 1,080-MW Grand Fula project proposed near the Ugandan border but noted that insecurity and instability are derailing the implementation of the project.