Tanzania to be home to waste-to-energy plant in Mafia Island

Tanzania is set to be home to an agro-industrial waste-to-energy plant in Mafia Island owing to a project dubbed “Promotion of Waste to Energy (WtE) Applications in Agro-Industries of Tanzania”.

With a planned capacity of 1,400KW, the waste-to-energy plant in Mafia Island aims to support the island and district of Pwani Region that is home to about 60,000 people to produce electricity using alternative power sources or rather green sources of power, and protect the environment for current and future generations.

Also Read: Government to produce 550mw of renewable energy in Tanzania by 2023

Reportedly, to supply electricity to its inhabitants, the island uses a generator plant with an installed capacity of 2.180KW against a maximum demand of about 2,200KW. Other than bridging this gap, the waste-to-energy plant in Mafia Island is also expected to avoid the emission of 1,054,341 tons of CO2 equivalent on the island.

Waste-to-energy plant in Mafia Island project team

The project shall be implemented by the UNITED Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in collaboration with the Vice President’s Office (Environment) with the financial support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) along with their stakeholders from government institutions and ministries. According to UNIDO, more than US$ 4M out of the US$ 5.277M needed for the project has already been released.

Noteworthy, UNIDO already supports Kisiwani Farming Limited that is currently intensifying its use of coconut oil plantation residues to produce electricity through modular thermal gasification and to strengthen the power supply system of this Tanzanian island.

Robert Washija, UNIDO’s national project coordinator for energy and environment explained that the company owned 2,700 plantation hectares and that the Mafia Island had already started using power from this source.

“All that’s needed is financial and expert support so that the Kisiwani Farming Limited can produce electricity to its full capacity and get rid of diesel generators that have adverse effects on the environment,” concluded Mr. Washija.