Posted on :Thursday , 24th June 2021

The loan agreement was signed recently in the Tanzanian capital Dodoma between the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Emmanuel Tutub, Frederic Clavier, the French Ambassador to Tanzania and Stephanie Mouen Essombe, the Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Tanzania.

The French bank is validating a 130-million euro loan for the construction of a 150 MWp solar power plant. The French Development Agency is providing an additional 7 million euros in financing for the feasibility study for this plant which will be located in Kishapu, a district in the Shinyanga region in northern Tanzania.

The construction of the solar power plant is planned to take 1 year, between March 2022 to March 2023. According to Emmanuel Tutub, the project targets to strengthen the grid of the state owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco). The future solar power plant, which will probably be the largest in the country with a capacity of 150 MWp, will diversify Tanzania’s electricity mix.

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the East African country has an installed capacity of 1,504 MW, of which 568 MW is generated from hydropower plants. This hydropower capacity will be increased to 2,668 MW with the commissioning of the Stiegler’s Gorge dam and hydropower plant (2,100 MW) under construction on the Rufiji River.

However, the increasing dry spells in Eastern and Southern Africa are reducing river flows, thus impacting on the operation of the hydropower plants. During the daytime, in the dry season, the Kishapu solar power plant will take over from the dams, which will be charged to come on line after sunset. The Tanzanian authorities estimate that the solar power plant will avoid the emission of 43,460 tonnes of Carbon dioxide equivalent per year.