Tanzania’s Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) has recently published its Regulatory Performance Report On Electricity Sub-Sector for the year ended 30th June 2017.
The document highlights that Tanzania’s total installed power capacity, as of June 2017, was 1,457.16MW of which 1,366.60MW was for main grid and 90.56MW was for isolated mini-grids.
This is an increase of 14.95MW as compared to the previous reporting period where installed capacity as of June 2016 was 1,442.21MW (1,358.01MW for main grid and 84.20MW for the isolated mini-grids).
Electricity generation mix consisted of hydropower 39.34%, natural gas 43.94%, liquid fuel (HFO/IDO/GO) 15.92% and biomass 0.80%
During the period under review, 16 generation licenses with a potential generation capacity of 150MW and 656 electrical installation licenses were issued. Furthermore, two projects operating below 1MW were registered.
The transmission network comprised of 66kV (578.7km), 132kV (1,628.79km), 220kV (2,748km) and 400kV (670km) transmission lines as well as 49 grid substations (3,533.20MVA), with losses of 406.55GWh equal to 6%.
However, EWURA indicates that a number of challenges still hinder power production and distribution, namely unreliable electricity supply due to infrastructure related problems and lack of generation reserves of which the Authority is carrying out regular inspections.
In addition, even though the Authority has developed regulatory tools to attract private investments in the electricity sub-sector, the pace of investment is not sufficient to meet the rapidly growing demand for electricity in Tanzania.
Tanzania Power
Tanzania’s power resources include hydro, natural gas, coal, uranium, wind, geothermal, biomass, solar, tidal and waves.
The average electricity consumption per capita in Tanzania is 108kWh per year, compared to Sub-Saharan Africa’s average consumption of 550kWh per year, and 2,500kWh average world consumption per year.
However, the demand for electricity in Tanzania is estimated to be growing at 10–15% per year, with currently only 24% of the total population having access to electricity.
In order to meet this demand, the Government is planning to increase Tanzania’s generation capacity to 10,000 MW in 2025.
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