Tanzania RE power potential excites global developers

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By The guardian reporter

 Tanzania has been identified as one of the seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with huge potential for development of grid-connected renewable energy (RE) power, a new report has said.

 

The Frost & Sullivan report lists the other countries as South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria and Ethiopia. 

 

Titled: Large-Scale Renewable Energy Power Development Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa says solar photovoltaic was by far the most popular technology in development, followed by wind, geothermal and concentrated solar power (CSP).

 

The American consulting company, which specializes in growth partnerships, says international RE developers have recently increased interest in SSA economies where they are ready to invest.

 

“International renewable energy (RE) power developers are looking to invest in Africa as a result of the continued success of the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) and the global decline in RE technology costs,” the company said in a statement.

 

“RE suppliers are more specifically looking to explore opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa due to the surplus of RE stocks and services globally, the acute power supply deficit in almost every country of sub-Saharan Africa, and abundant RE resources on the continent,” it adds.

 

According to the General Manager and CEO of Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC), Boniface Njombe, the country has an estimated geothermal potential of over 4,000 MWe.

 

He says RE was increasingly becoming popular since it was stable and has potential to cushion power supply against poor hydrology due to adverse impacts of climate change. TGDC is a subsidiary of Tanesco established in December 2013 with the mandate of facilitating realization of geothermal energy development.

 

In the bid to enhance the country’s RE knowledge and open the subsector to investors, Tanzania has embarked on mapping the available potential under the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) 

Tanzania’s energy mapping is part of a global, US$22.5 million initiative by ESMAP to help 12 countries analyse their renewable energy resources to guide policymakers and investors. The US$2.8 million programme in Tanzania is one of the largest under the initiative.

 

The other beneficiaries of the funding are Ethiopia, Lesotho, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Zambia, Pakistan and Vietnam. In 2012, ESMAP launched a major global initiative to support renewable energy resource assessment, mapping, and geospatial planning, including the collection of ground-based data where this does not currently exist.

 

“ESMAP has currently allocated US$22.5 million to this initiative, which will run until at least 2018. Full delivery of the current pipeline of 12 country projects would require over 

US$48 million,” read the profile of the initiative.

 

The Renewable Energy Resource Mapping initiative covers biomass, small hydropower, solar, and wind.

 

As of June 2015, the pipeline of large-scale RE (solar PV, CSP, and wind) power projects in sub-Saharan Africa totalled about 14.7 gigawatts. The report says that while only 647 megawatts (MW) was actually under construction, there has been significant progress since early 2014.

 

It cites the commissioning of flagship projects like the Olkaria I-III-IV geothermal projects in Kenya (306 MW), the Adama II wind project in Ethiopia (153 MW) and the financial close of the Lake Turkana wind project in Kenya (310 MW).

 

“Certain governments across Africa are striving to frame clear regulatory and institutional frameworks in order to rapidly deploy RE power technologies as they have recognised the potential for large-scale RE development,” said Frost & Sullivan Energy & Power Systems Industry Analyst Celine Paton. 

 

“Prominent challenges to these efforts, however, include the bankability of the projects, limited grid capacity and the affordability of electricity. Poor long-term planning often compels governments to implement expensive short-term solutions.”

 

Furthermore, the market will require creative funding schemes that will improve the bankability of RE power projects.

 

Following a global trend, Paton noted, governments in most sub-Saharan Africa countries have established increasingly ambitious RE targets for their power sectors. According to her, solar, wind, and geothermal technologies will represent the highest growth, slowly eroding the dominant market share of hydropower, which has recently been prone to severe climate change issues.