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Tanzania remains power hungry despite 240 MW plant commissioning

27th April 2018

By: John Muchira

Creamer Media Correspondent

     

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Tanzania has achieved a major electricity-generation milestone with the recent commissioning of a $345-million gas-fired power plant.

The new plant, Kinyerezi II, with an installed capacity of 240 MW, was constructed by Japanese company Sumitomo and is one of the many power projects Tanzania is implementing as it seeks to increase generation capacity from 1 513 MW currently to 5 000 MW over the next two years.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation provided 85% of the funding, with the Tanzania government putting up the rest.

The plant, which is located on the outskirts of the city of Dar es Salaam and fuelled by natural gas piped from Mnazi Bay, is expected to save Tanzania up to $1-billion dollars a year in oil imports.

“Efforts are still needed to produce at least 5 000 MW by 2020 to enable Tanzania to [become] an industrialised economy,” President John Pombe Magufuli said when he commissioned the plant last month.

He added that the new plant would not only help connect more Tanzanians to the national grid but also help in bringing down the cost of electricity and making it affordable.

Government statistics show that only about 40% of Tanzania’s 55-million citizens have access to electricity.

The country, which has discovered vast gas deposits, estimated at 57-trillion cubic feet, is investing in several gas-fired power plants to drive its industrialisation agenda.

The US Geological Survey estimates that the country has potential natural gas reserves of up to 441-trillion cubic feet in the coastal region alone.

Apart from Kinyerezi II, the Tanzania government is extending the Kinyerezi I plant from 185 MW to 335 MW at a cost of $185-million and is also building the $400-million 600-MW-capacity Kinyerezi III project and the 330 MW Kinyerezi IV project, which also has a $400-million price tag.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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