
Igara and Buhweju
Igara Grower’s Tea Factory Ltd is a key player in Uganda’s tea industry, comprised of 7,000 smallholder farmers.
The company operates two tea processing facilities: Igara Tea Factory, the largest smallholder-owned tea factory in the country, and Buhweju Tea Factory, established in 2010 as Uganda’s only smallholder-owned tea factory since 1969.
Together, they contribute 10% of the nation’s total tea production, playing a vital role in both the local economy and Uganda’s agricultural landscape.
Igara wants to become a model business for similar small scale organisations, and wants to generate good income for their farmers and stakeholders in a sustainable manner.
Challenges
What was holding Igara back were several challenges, that both factories faced in their operations.
Firstly, frequent power cuts due to an unstable grid forced them to rely heavily on diesel generators, which not only interrupted production but also resulted in higher costs and damaged machinery.
Additionally, the factories face high energy consumption due to the energy-intensive nature of tea processing activities like drying and withering.
Lastly, despite the clear benefits of renewable energy, the high upfront investment required posed a significant barrier to adopting this sustainable energy solution.

Our Solution
GRIPS Energy addressed these challenges by installing two solar PV systems: 499 kWp at Igara and 425 kWp at Buhweju.
Both systems operate on-grid and off-grid, integrating with the existing diesel generators to ensure uninterrupted power, especially during grid outages.
Designed for self-consumption, the systems significantly reduced the factories’ dependence on diesel, lowered energy costs, and ensured reliable power for uninterrupted tea processing.
As with all our projects, GRIPS manages operations, maintenance, and monitoring, guaranteeing optimal system performance; while our customer can focus on growing their business.
GRIPS Project Scope
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German Energy Solutions Initiative
With the aim of positioning German technologies and know-how worldwide, the German Energy Solutions Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) supports suppliers of climate-friendly energy solutions in opening up foreign markets. The focus lies on renewable energies, energy efficiency, smart grids and storage, as well as technologies such as power-to-gas and fuel cells. Aimed in particular at small and medium-sized enterprises, the German Energy Solutions Initiative supports participants through measures to prepare market entry as well as to prospect, develop and secure new markets.

Renewable Energy Solutions Programme (RES Programme)
With the RES programme, the German Energy Solutions Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) helps German companies in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors enter new markets. Within the framework of the programme, reference plants are installed and marketed with the support of the German Energy Agency (dena). Information and training activities help ensure a sustainable market entry and demonstrate the quality of climate-friendly technologies made in Germany.

The German Energy Agency (dena) is a centre of excellence for the applied energy transition and climate protection. dena studies the challenges of building a climate-neutral society and supports the German government in achieving its energy and climate policy objectives. Since its foundation in 2000, dena has worked to develop and implement solutions and bring together national and international partners from politics, industry, the scientific community and all parts of society. dena is a project enterprise and a public company owned by the German federal government. dena’s shareholder is the Federal Republic of Germany.
The RES Uganda project supports GRIPS Energy in implementing communication, marketing and training activities in East Africa. This project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the Renewable Energy Solutions Programme of the German Energy Solutions Initiative.