Manufacturers Switch to Gas, Boost Profits.

Posted on : Monday , 23rd October 2023

At an estimated 57 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves both in the Indian Ocean and offshore, Tanzania holds east Africa largest gas deposits, with an annual production of 110 billion cubic feet from three fields: Songo Songo, Mnazi Bay, and Kiliwani.

Currently the country annual natural gas production stands at 68.02 billion cubic feet as compared to 59.96 billion cubic feet recorded in the same period of 2021/22 which is equivalent to 13% increase.

Clarke Energy, a leading multinational specialist in distributed energy solutions, including gas-to-power and battery energy storage systems has partnered with industrial companies in providing self-generated gas power plants by using natural gas.

The company has emerged with over 45 MW already installed natural gas-to-power solutions to offset the national grid supply.

Speaking recently at the power generation networking and cocktail evening in Dar es Salaam, the Clarke Energy Managing Director for Africa, Yiannis Tsantilas said that they have now delivered over 45MW of installed power generation capacity in the country.

“These solutions provide resilient and reliable self-generated electricity supply for manufacturing and processing and independent power producers (IPP) who sell power as a service to other industries. The existing customer base are notable players are in the steel, glass, flour mills, tobacco and oil and gas industries,” he said.

He added that, the engines installed by the company are supported by in-country service capability and several spare parts warehouse facilities.

“We were delighted to hold this networking evening and engage in project discussions whilst exchanging thoughts on emerging trends in the energy sector in Tanzania.”

“Clarke Energy has a wealth of experience in providing resilient and efficient energy solutions for industry and by hosting this networking evening, we aim to establish strong partnerships with new and existing customers, share knowledge and expertise, and collectively drive innovation in the power generation industry.”

On the other hand, the General Manager of Clarke Energy, Mr Emile Hamman, clarified that aside from reliability, an additional benefit of self-power generation utilising natural gas includes significant cost savings compared to generating electricity from other fuel sources.

“Most companies in manufacturing and processing, including food & beverage, cement, plastics packaging, textile, pharmaceuticals, and mining, can save up to 15-25% off energy costs by adopting gas-to-power solutions. The savings can double if the customer requirement includes heat recovery, which means utilising waste heat from the exhaust to generate steam, hot water or cooling.”

He said, once a gas power plant has been installed, it is connected to a network of gas pipelines or bottled variants transported as compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquified natural gas (LNG) to the customer site by a gas supplier. The locally based team of Clarke Energy engineers will commission the power plant, hand over the gas genset to the customer, and kick off the service maintenance plan.

Currently Tanzania’s total power installed capacity is 1,605.86 MW (2021), mostly generated from natural gas (48%), followed by hydropower (31%), petrol (18%), solar (1%), and biofuels (1%).

Tanzania also imports power from Uganda (10 MW), Zambia (5 MW), and Kenya (1MW).