Tanzania - Country Profile brief

Tanzania is an Eastern African country with a mainly rural structure. It is located in the eastern part of Africa bordering the Indian Ocean between Kenya and Mozambique. Tanzania has a total area of 947,300 square kilometers where the terrain is mostly made out of plains along the coast, a central plateau and highlands in north and south. The lowest elevation starts at sea level with the Indian Ocean while the highest point is the Kilimanjaro with an altitude of 5,895 m.

The climate varies from tropical along the coast to temperate in the highlands north and south. The average temperature in Tanzania is 23°C with high temperatures at 32 °C in October and low temperatures of 15°C during the months of June and July. The level of precipitation averages 892 mm (35.1 in) per year, or 74 mm (2.9 in) per month. As of 2010 the population counts 41.9 million people with 75% living in rural areas (2008), which results in an average population density of 41 persons per square kilometer. On the mainland 30% of the population is Christian, and 35% Muslim, while the other 35% is of indigenous beliefs; in Zanzibar,- more than 99% are Muslim.

The country’s capital is Dodoma. Swahili (Kiunguja-name for Swahili - in Zanzibar), is the official language while English is the primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education; Arabic is widely spoken in Zanzibar; there are also numerous local languages. In 2009 the gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at USD 1,400 per capita.

Energy Situation

Less than 14% of the total Tanzanian population has access to electricity; 2-3% or the rural population has electricity.

The average consumption of electricity is 46 kWh per capita per year . In the year 2010 the cost of electricity was 0.14 USD/kWh in the main cities and ranged from 0.30 to 0.92 USD/kWh in rural areas. The total installed capacity 2010 was at 1,219 MW from which hydropower comprises 561 MW and thermal 658 MW; the electricity production in 2007 was 3,786 GWh. It is expected that the energy demand will triple by year 2020, which implies the generation of 11,358 GWh electricity. Currently, the main power generation sources remain fuel-wood and charcoal from both natural forest and plantations, which account for 90% of the total energy consumption, the remaining 10% of commercial energy includes 8% from petroleum and 2% from hydro, natural gas, diesel, solar, biomass and others.

Renewable Energy Situation

The potential for Renewable energy production is estimated at 315 GWh per year from biomass with the cogeneration from forest and agricultural residues, and 4,500 MW from hydro power. For solar energy production, there is an average of 3,107 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 8.5 hours of sunlight per day. The average sunlight hours in Tanzania range between 6.9 hours per day in January and 10.0 hours per day in July and August, with an average radiation of 4.6 kWh/m² per day. The wind speed ranges from 0.9 to 4.8 m/s (up to 12 m/s in some areas). Based on preliminary exploration, estimates indicated a geothermal potential of 650 MW. The wave/tidal energy potential still needs to be evaluated.

Best Practice Projects

Below we are highlighting examples of projects where renewable energy technology has successfully be installed in Cambodia. They represent typical installations that have a large application potential in todays framework.

PV and Lighting for Usalama House - PV & LED lighting

Usalama House was instigated and is run by a UK registered charity, Faraja Support (number 1125285). It provides a safe productive living environment for seven otherwise underprivileged children near Arusha in Northern Tanzania. The installation of a 125 Wp photovoltaic solar system and LED lighting was achieved through successful collaboration between Faraja Support, the Tanzanian Renewable Energies Association (TAREA) and Kakute from Tanzania. The new facilities, which cost $2,000, will facilitate household activities such as doing homework after sunset without the need for kerosene lamps, which are damaging to their health and is expensive to operate. They will also enable the charging of mobile phones and the use of a laptop that was donated by friends of Faraja Support organization. The collaborative approach adopted, whereby immediate priority needs were addressed, can readily be extended or reproduced in other similar environments, regardless of location. Kakute and Faraja Support now have further renewable projects they wish to develop.

Karatu district renewable energy project - Biogas

Project goal:

• To promote the adaptation of renewable energy by removing barriers and reducing costs.

Problem statement:

• Households in Karatu District have very limited access to effective, clean and sustainable energy.
• This limited access to energy creates problems for the households themselves and for the society in general.

The objectives of this project are:

• To create awareness among the rural households in Karatu District of alternative energy systems, in form of biogas, and of the benefits they can get from the biogas.
• To provide the rural households in Karatu District access to appropriate biogas technologies, by developing, demonstrating and testing biogas technologies for the households.

Project output are:

• An annual reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases and a reduction of deforestation in a world her-itage site in Tanzania; Lake Manyara National Park and Ngorongore Conservation Authority Area.

Fabrication & implementation of a small hydroturbine

I started generating electricity using a small run of water with turbine that was not so good. The turbine used here was able to produce a small amount of power enough for only 4 houses with about 5 people each. I went on improving the turbine in order to have more power for more people.

One day in my workshop I met Mr LEO from OIKOS EAST AFRICA whom together with me came up with a new design of a powerful and efficient turbine. From then, and in collaboration with myself, the Justine Mungure, Leo – from OIKOS EAST AFRICA and Arusha Technical College Technicians, have been able to manufacture a new and efficient hydro Turbine for which the performance seems very efficient. By using this new Turbine 20 houses of more than 120 people have benefited from the power generated by this turbine.

Village Goes Solar – Economical Solar Plant

The aim of this project is to provide villages not connected to the grid with exemplary Solar Home Systems as objects of demonstration. The electricity produced is used for charging the mobile phones in the village and lighting the house of the person offering his roof for the installation and for keeping the installation in good condition. This person must necessarily be a Local Technician (LT), a technician for solar energy who has been capacitated by ZASEA previously (ZASEA has educated more than 50 LT so far). Additionally to managing the solar system in the village, the LT works as a bridge between ZASEA and the villagers, who can advise them on solar equipment or service any installation in the village. The Technician receives a service fee from the villagers, from which he/she has to save up a certain amount of money for replacing parts that may break down.

Generator Zero - Power Backup System

In Tanzania 14% of the population has access to grid electricity while access is only 2% in rural areas. The current electricity supply by the national utility, TANESCO, is not reliable. In April 2011, the power cut in Dar es Salaam was registered at an average 10 hours per day. In the business centres, entrepreneurs use petrol and diesel generating sets for power backup supply systems. The leading centre for having the most use of the petrol/diesel generating sets is Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam. In Kariakoo, it is estimated that there are 450 generators, and this number is growing. When the generators run they pollute the environment by emitting CO2, noise, and oil spillage.

Petrol generators use an average of 3 litres per day of fuel, and run an average of 6 hours per day. On an average, generators are used 6 months per year, when the power generation by the national utility is low due to the low level of water in the dams. During the year 2009, Tanzania Renewable Energy Association, TAREA, started an environmental pollution mitigation project by providing an alternative energy supply system to the national grid, using a grid charged battery backup system. The same year, 3 demonstration stations for raising awareness were installed in 3 shops. The project has to date resulted in the replacement of 95 gasoline generators. In October 2010, the project was modified by using a Solar PV Charged Battery Backup System. The second innovation added to the project was the reduction in the size of the battery bank as the use of a large number of batteries adds to the problem of pollution due to the difficulty associated with proper battery and acid water disposal. The Solar PV Charged Battery Backup System supplies electricity to the photocopier shop at the college. The equipment supplied includes a desktop computer, a printer, a scanner, 3 lights and a photocopy machine.

Biogas support for Tanzania “BiogaST”

Biogas support for Tanzania (BiogaST) helps to improve the rural population’s living conditions in the Kagera region, one of the poorest regions in Tanzania. This is to be reached by the development and construction of a decentralized energy supply through small, adapted biogas digesters for the use of fermentation gas used as cooking energy. The sustainability of this project is ensured by accompanying training and education on this environmentally friendly technology to ensure the acceptance of this project within the local population. BiogaST is implemented as a cooperation project between Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V. and the Tanzanian non-governmental organization MAVUNO Project.

SNV-supported Tanzania Domestic Biogas Programme (TDBP)

Over the period 2009 – 2013, the Tanzania Domestic Biogas Programme (TDBP) aims to improve livelihoods of farming households, exploiting market and non-market benefits of domestic biogas. Using an infrastructure of local organisations across Tanzania, the programme aims to have an expansive outreach of biogas dissemination.

The programme will: support the construction of 12,000 new biogas plants; stimulate proper bio-slurry use by embarking on extension activities; facilitate toilet connection by making a second inlet pipe to the digester mandatory; avoiding deforestation of some 8,000 hectares of forest and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60kt CO2; benefit 72,000 people (mainly women and children) and virtually eliminating indoor air pollution; ensure the proper construction, maintenance and operation of the constructed installations by providing 5,000 person-days of professional training and 16,800 person-days of user training; have generated direct rural employment at artisan level to the tune of 840 person-years. These objectives are set in a wider, 10-year framework to establish a commercially viable biogas sector in Tanzania, provid-ing 100,000 households with the technology.

CERC - Community Energy Resources Center

The Community Energy Resources Center (CERC) was created to give access to renewable, efficient, and affordable energy technologies to the rural isolated community of Oldonyosambu (3 villages, 20000 people). It offers: information and technical skills for sizing, quotation and implementation of solar and biogas systems or improved stoves of different types and sizes; computer/internet and printing services; mobile charging; solar torches; solar dried vegetables; jatropha soap made by women cooperatives; restaurant using energy efficient stoves; a small library focused on energy and environmental issues; a tree nursery. The CERC is managed by the community in particular by an “energy committee” consists of trained local technicians of each technology, women cooperative and village representatives, which meet every week. The electricity for lighting, radio, using computer and printer is provided by a PV system of 369 Wp. Any villager entering to the CERC can have information or buying any energy technology system/service. The CERC is located near the main market of the area and is open from Monday to Sunday, 9am - 5pm.

Improving education and communication in a secondary school

The Oldonyosyosambu secondary school (about 1200 students) is an isolated school located in a rural area of north Tanzania. In 2010 a photovoltaic system of 840 Wp was implemented in the school to run a computer room of 13 laptops, 1 printer and internet LAN connection. Training for students and teachers (also from neighbouring schools) gave them the skills to use computer and internet facilities improving the quality of education, source of information and giving a quick connection to the rest of the world! For the first time, students had the possibility to sit for the computer part of the final national examination, which will increase their future job opportunities. The students also created a blog, oldonyosambusecondaryschool.blogspot.com, with the aim of creating contacts with other Tanzanian schools as well as foreign ones. The project’s sustainability was set together with school and the local governmental institutions to take care of the management and maintenance aspects.

Pico hydro system local made

The pico hydro system of 750W implemented in Makumira village (north Tanzania) is a demonstration site which gives an example of 100% locally made renewable energy technology suitable for isolated areas. The local realization of the device was possible through the contribution of 3 institutions: Dar es Salaam University for the design, Arusha Technical College for the workshops and the construction of the device and Oikos East Africa for the coordination, logistic and community aspects. This collaboration brought to the local technical college the skills to replicate such a system and to spread this knowledge to future students. These skills were completely absent in this area, where there are many isolated places that could be exploited to replicated the plant. This system provides electricity to 20 households, which is now managed as a community owned service. The site was already a demonstration site for biogas, wind, stoves, agriculture technologies and mechanical workshop that was started by a local skilled technician.