Tanzania’s state-run power utility TANESCO announced that it needs to add around 70 MW annually to its power grid. Currently the country’s capacity is around 600 MW and demand sits at about 560 MW. To meet growing demand the company said that it will need to increase its power supply by 70 MW annually.
The addition to the grid will require about 1.5 trillion Tanzanian shillings over the next five years.
According to a Reuters report, TANESCO forecasts demand growing at about 8-10% annually. It projects annual demand will grow to more than 1,100 MW by 2010.
“Taking into account the current demand, this translates to a requirement of about 70 MW of additional generation every year into the power system. The grid system is operating with inadequate reserve,” Idris Rashidi, TANESCO managing director, said in a statement.
Tanzania gets its power from a variety of sources, but only a few suppliers are consistent. TANESCO has an installed capacity of 1,212 MW, of which 562 MW is from hydropower dams; however, not all of the capacity is available all the time as a result from irregular rainfall. A natural gas plant in Dar es Salaam produces 100 MW and TANESCO plans to add another 245 MW from natural gas over the next two years.
Rashidi said the company needs to invest a substantial amount of money in the next five years to improve power production, transmission, and distribution.
“The stumbling block of all the power expansion plans is the unavailability of timely financing for the required power projects. TANESCO needs over 1.5 trillion shillings to execute its expansion plan over the next five years,” Rashidi said.