An SQL database of the production and consumption of electricity in Uganda, 1954-62

The project entails a database of hydroelectric data from Uganda from 1954-62. This time period begins with the completion of the Owen Falls Dam in Uganda – which remains the largest single source of hydroelectricity in East Africa – and concludes with the end of colonialism and the start of independent rule. The information that I included charts the production and consumption of hydroelectric power. The data was sourced it from the UK National Archives, which includes correspondence between colonial technocrats as well as the records of the Uganda Electricity Board, the agency that oversaw the operation of the dam and nearby hydroelectric projects.

Specifically, the information charts forecasted and actual annual figures for each year between 1954-1962. On the production side, this includes information about the Owen Falls Dam as well as proposals for other projects on the Nile. On the consumption side, the database includes information about several industrial centres in Uganda, including Kakira Sugar Estate, Kilembe Copper Mines, and Nyanza Textiles, as well as data showing use by government utilities like railroads and housing projects. The database facilitates the manipulation and recombination of this historic knowledge, allowing the user to ask an expanded range of questions about the changes in the Ugandan hydroelectric industry during the late colonial period.