The Tanzanian government has recently launched construction works of the Kinyerezi II power plant project in Ilala district in Dar es Salaam, which will be supplied with natural gas from the Mnazi Bay and will add 240 MW to the national grid when completed in 2018 .
Kinyerezi II represents a total investment of USD 432 million or TZS 691.2 billion with 15% financed by Tanzania’s government through a loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and SMBC Trust Bank, while the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided the remaining balance.
Kinyerezi II construction works follow Kinyerezi I power plant inaugurated in Q4-2015 by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), which has a capacity of 150 MW and is part of a project compounded by four gas fired power plants meant to add over 1,000 MW of capacity to the national grid through a 400 KV sub-station in Kinyerezi area.
TANESCO’s Kinyerezi Plant Manager, Eng. John Mageni, explained that the organization has plans to expand Kinyerezi I capacity from 150 MW to 335 MW with the support of the natural gas coming from the Mnzai Bay since at the beginning it was being supplied by the Songosongo gas field and working at 50% of its capacity.
In addition, TANESCO Director General Felchism Mramba, explained that Kinyerezi I will be switched off to allow tests with natural gas supplied from Mnazi Bay and that the whole project is expected to be supplied with this gas to assure a reliable power supply to the population.
Moreover, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli directed the Minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof. Sospeter Muhongo, and TANESCO to construct more power plants in the country and tap the natural gas resources, instead of proposing projects with rented equipment that represent to the country high expenses on energy imports.
Tanzania is currently planning to tap its natural gas reserves by also building a gas export plant to supply the Asian markets after the local and regional needs are covered and the electricity sector has become non-dependent of oil imports and unreliable hydropower plants.
This is expected to help the country to save up to USD 1 billion a year on oil imports for electricity generation.
Tanzania raised its natural gas reserves from 46.5 trillion cubic feet in June, 2014 to 55 trillion cubic feet in June, 2015 due to a series of discoveries in offshore blocks.
However, the country has a potential natural gas reserves up to 441 trillion cubic feet solely in the coastal region, according to the US Geological Survey.
Tanzania recently announced the discovery of 2.17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas reserves at the onshore Ruvu Basin block 30 km westward from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania’s coastal region, raising the country’s reserves to 57.17 tcf up from 55 tcf in June, 2015.
From the translation of google (limited one) I understood that it would be completed between the next 21 to 28 months.
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