The Tanzania Rural Electrification Project is being implemented by the Rural Energy Agency (REA). The development objectives are to increase access to electricity in rural areas. Additionally, it aims to scale up the supply of renewable energy in rural areas while strengthening sector institutional capacity.
The project also serves the Government of Tanzania (GoT)’s plans to achieve approximately 1.3 million connections in rural areas. It also aims to increase the average access rate to electricity, both urban and rural, to 35 percent by next year (2022).
Furthermore, it supports three of the electrification avenues of the NREP, which are grid extension, and off-grid electrification. Within the category of off-grid electrification, renewable technologies, including solar photovoltaic (PV).
Thus far, the Tanzania Rural Electrification Project has managed to connect 10,361 of 12,317 villages to electricity successfully. The number of villages that have received connections is equivalent to 84.12% of the Nation’s villages.
Reported On 18 June 2014
US$24m rural electrification project kicks off in Tanzania
East African Power Solutions will officially embark on a US$24m Rural Electrification Project in Tanzania. According to the Director of the firm undertaking the task, Engineer Werema Msongo all the villages in rural Arusha will benefit from the electrification project. The project aims to begin next week and get completed by June 2015. More than 11,000 homes will benefit from the project.
Eng Makoye Ng’erere the Senior Manager for the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) Limited in the Northern Zone spoke about the project. He said that the project will enable most citizens to access electricity at a cheaper price making it affordable to all.
Rural electrification in Tanzania will entail the electrification of the district headquarters, townships, villages, and commercial centers. According to the current National Energy Policy of the United Republic of Tanzania, the goal of rural electrification is a widespread improvement of the standard of living of the rural population. Leading to the attaining of a better balance within socio-economic growth.
Steady Progress
The African energy sector is known for very high energy prices and insufficient and unreliable supply of power. Alongside, very low rates of electrification. Africa consumes a meager 3 percent of the world’s electricity with connectivity remaining relatively low, with rates averaging 43 percent.
Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, generates only 28 gigawatts of power, roughly equal to the generation capacity of the country Argentina. Of the 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, 21 have a total generation capacity of fewer than 200 megawatts. South Africa alone generates 45 percent of the continental total.
Next would be the North African countries at 30 percent and the rest of the continent at 25 percent. However, approximately a quarter is unavailable at any given time because of poor infrastructure reliability and insufficient capacity.
Africa’s energy deficiency has led the World Bank to declare 25 African nations to be in an energy crisis. Additionally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) proposed that Africa will require more than US$300 billion in investment to achieve universal electricity access by 2030.
Reported On 27 April 2016
Rural electrification in Tanzania gets US$ 680m boost
Deputy Minister of Energy and Minerals Dr. Medard Kalemani confirmed reports while giving brief details on the implementation of the Rural Energy Agency (REA) budget for the 2015/2016 financial year. He said that nearly 6,000 villages in rural areas will be fully connected to electricity service for the third phase of the project which is being undertaken by the Rural Energy Agency (REA).
“REA expects to implement phase III of the project in three consecutive years where we expect to spend US$ 680m and this will be the last phase of the project,” Dr. Kalemani said.
In his comments REA Director General, Dr. Lutengano Mwakahesya further said that the project is majorly focused on transmitting electricity at the Headquarters of 13 districts namely Buhigwe, Busega, Chemba, Kakonko and, Itilima. Others are Kalambo, Kyerwa, Mkalama, Mlele, Momba, Nanyumbu, Nyasa, and Uvinza and up to now, only the Momba district is not connected to the service.
This initiative barely comes after the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) announced that it will not release the US$470m funds to Tanzania for the electricity projects. According to a statement the Corporation’s Board decided to stop all activities that are related to the development of a Second Compact with Tanzania.
Reported On 5 August 2016
Rural Energy Agency to electrify all villages in Tanzania by 2021
Tanzania’s Minister of Energy and Minerals Professor Sospeter Muhongo said the Rural Energy Agency (REA) plans to connect a total of 7,500 villages to the national grid by 2021. The minister said as the government starts implementing REA phase three, which will take five years.
Rural Energy Agency phase three was unveiled on August 1, this year. It is said that by the year 2021, all villages in the country will have electricity. The minister said the government has put aside US$457.3 million to implement the five-year project.
“The fifth phase government has allocated 1trn/- for REA projects in five years. This had never happened before. Therefore, I can tell you today that all villages will be enjoying light by 2021,” he said.
They took place at Ngongo grounds in Lindi Region. According to the minister, the third phase of the electrification project came right after the completion of the second phase, which recorded 94% success.
Second phase
“The second phase ended in June, this year. It was implemented in two years and it cost 880bn/-. The project had a 98% success rate goal. However it dropped to 94 percent due to various reasons,” said Minister Muhongo.
He said that US$285.5 million out of the US$457.3 million, which has been allocated for the third phase of Rural Energy Agency projects will be from domestic channels. Meanwhile, the remaining portion will be from donors.
In addition, Prof Muhongo told residents of Lindi that the government through Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco), intends to improve electricity infrastructure. In order to guarantee high-quality services in the few coming years.
However, he appealed to Tanzanians to put up modern houses to allow Tanesco to connect them to power. “I would like to advise you my fellow Tanzanians to build modern houses, it will easy Tanesco’s job to connect your houses to electricity,” he said
Reported On 14 August 2021
Tanzania’s rural electrification project continues to make progress
The Tanzania rural electrification project is continuing according to Tanzania’s Prime Minister. Kassim Majaliwa said that the government will continue electrifying all villages by ensuring the implementation of phase 3 of the Rural Electricity Agency (REA). The Tanzania rural electrification project covers all the remaining villages which are 1,974 in total.
According to him, the government will continue to supervise the construction of electric power projects. Alongside, the implementation of the crude oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania. The strategic projects aim to enable the country to strengthen its production and supply of electricity. More especially, a low-cost part of the government’s grand plan is to build a competitive industrial economy.
“By March this year, the construction of the Julius Nyerere Hydro Electricity Power Plant had reached 45%. The US $2.9bn project will add 2,115MW to the national grid,” said Mr. Majaliwa. He further said that the project gave over 7,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities. Additionally, he said that the construction of the Rusumo power project along the Kagera river which aims to produce 80MW has reached 75.3%.
Construction of transmission lines
“Implementation of power projects goes together with the construction of transmission lines of 40KV from Rufiji-Chalinze-Kinyerezi and Chalinze-Dodoma,” he said.
He also revealed that the government is constructing a transmission line of 220KV for the high-speed train that will be operating on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). “The first phase of the 220kv transmission line project for the SGR project from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro is now 99% complete.”
Reported On 16 November 2021
Tanzania Rural Electrification Project: 10,361 Villages Connected To Electricity
Recently, Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said that 10,361 villages out of the East African country’s 12,317 villages had electricity by October 2021, owing to the ongoing Tanzania rural electrification project.
Adjourning a two-week parliamentary session in the capital Dodoma, Majaliwa said that the number of villages connected to electricity was a huge portion of the East African nation’s villages.
“The government of the United Republic of Tanzania will ensure that the remaining 1,956 villages will have electricity by December 2022 at the latest through the second phase of the Tanzania rural electrification program.”
