From: Abdalah Hamis
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Author: Dr A. Massawe/massaweantipas@hotmail.com
Electricity is the most important essential in our present times dominated with electric powered instruments, machines and information technology aided human activities in households, education, health care, wealth creation and entertainment.
As a substitute for firewood and charcoal, electricity also contributes mitigation of deforestation in rural areas. Hydro, solar and wind sourced electricity also contributes mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and their global warming effect.
High electricity consumption per capita (KWh per person) in a country is also an indication of high levels of industrial based economic growth and quality of life per person in the country. For example, comparing the KWh per person of 2012 for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda which are 133, 73 and 58 respectively, indicates that the levels of industrial based economic growth and quality of life in Kenya are higher than those in Tanzania and those in Tanzania are higher than those in Uganda.
Despite of the huge hydro, coal, natural gas, geothermal, wind and solar based electricity generation potentials Tanzania is gifted with, statistics generated by Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the World Development Indicators (WDI) and World bank research and reported by Isis Gaddis, Jacques Morriset and Waly Wane shows it is only 14 % of its population had access to electricity in 2010 and only 3 % of its rural population uses electricity.
Tanzania produces less than 1000 MW of hydro, natural gas and heavy fuel based electricity right now and its supply to customers is very unreliable and expensive. Under-exploitation of generation potentials in hydro, coal, natural gas, geothermal, wind and solar resulted into the insufficiency and inefficiency of electricity supply causing the continuing escalation of costs in doing business; retardation of growth in the investing for manufacturing; and closure of power intensive and/or cost sensitive local manufacturing and replacement of locally made with imported products.
Costly power generation contracts the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) entered with foreign companies in local power generation are also a hindrance in the national efforts to provide enough and reliable electricity at competitive price to consumers throughout the country. TANESCO reported in the newspapers recently that it spends 5.4 billion shillings per day in power generation, transmission and supply to customers, only collecting 2.34 billion shillings per day in return. The difference of figures is huge and indicative of serious optimization problems in the way TANESCO manages national supply of electricity to customers in the country.
Electricity problems experienced throughout the country for many years now are a consequence of delays in the exploitation of the Stigler’s and other hydro and coal power generation potentials Tanzania is gifted with which should have been a national economic development priority accomplished long time ago.
Long term solution to the electricity problems the nation is experiencing now is obtainable from speeding up development of the Stigler’s and other most cost effective hydro and coal power generation potentials available in the country. And, all new emergency power plants to be constructed in the country should be TANESCO whole owned in order to ensure that some of the huge emergency cost trickles back to TANESCO as profit and savings. Foreigners could be involved only as contracted suppliers, builders and managers of the TANESCO whole owned emergency power generation plants.
Again, the newly natural gas finds made at Msimbati village in Mtwara region could have contributed optimal solution to the electricity problems the country is experiencing if it was resolved Msimbati gas should be for power generation in Mtwara instead of for power generation in Dar es Salaam the way it is already decided. Optimal because it would have allowed avoiding the huge cost of pipeline construction and management of natural gas transportation from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam throughout the lifespan of the project and enable availability of reliable electricity supply at competitive price for the stimulation of investments in the development of untapped economic growth potentials Mtwara and its neighbouring regions of Lindi and Songea are gifted with.
It is also very hopeful that from the continuing exploration, new natural gas finds could be made onshore and offshore, very near to Dar es Salaam and renders the transportation of the gaseous fuel from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam unnecessary. Again, Dar es Salaam may not need Mtwara natural gas for the generation of its own electricity because the city is well positioned to receive it from future developments like hydro and coal based power generation potentials in the country through the national power grid it is already well connected on.
Also, in order to attract in investments, the availability of reliable supply of electricity at competitive price should be created first where national economic growth potentials exist untapped due to lack of power supply like it is with Mtwara right now and not the other way round like many argue that it should be Msimbati gas for electricity generation in Dar es Salaam instead of in Mtwara because Dar es Salaam already has investors to consume it when Mtwara doesn’t have any.
Competitiveness of electricity price in the local market is more important than the availability of reliable electricity which is too expensive to be supportive of investments in the development economic growth potentials the nation is gifted with. Since majority of the Tanzanian population is widely scattered in the rural areas of the country and only 3% of it uses electricity, rural electrification based on renewable sources like solar should be a national priority and involve maximum participation of private sector developers. State could finance the installation of solar power generation plants for rural schools and healthcare centers and put in place fiscal regimes and subsidies to enable rural households to install own solar power generation plants and private sector to invest in the development of commercial small scale hydro, coal, wind, solar and geothermal electricity generation and supply infrastructures to consumers within the boundaries of rural cluster settlements.
Establishment of national company responsible for the development of renewable sources based electricity infrastructures like solar based electrification of rural areas in the country will be a very positive government response in ensuring newly developed technologies for the generation of electricity from renewable resources like solar are timely put into the service of electricity demand in the country.
Rationale for the national supply of electricity required to enable stimulation of investments in the development of national economic growth potentials is to have it generated at source and consumed in the development of first nearest to source national economic growth potential (s) and remains of electricity passed over to the second nearest to source national economic growth potential (s), and so on. Aim is to avoid cost in the transportation of raw materials for power generation; minimize losses and cost in the transmission of electricity though long distance; and to enable fair and maximized stimulation of investments in the development of economic growth potentials throughout the country.
Again, rationale should be to export electricity to nearby foreign markets rather than to local markets which are far away from source and import from nearby foreign sources rather than from local sources which are far away in order to mitigate transmission costs and losses through long distance.
Also, to be able to achieve sustainability of sufficiency and efficiency of electricity supply in the country, TANESCO should be in the hands of competent local and/or foreign Board directors who are equipped with world class competence in successful management of similar national power generation, transmission and distribution companies elsewhere and appointed involving the services of executive selection consultants. Most State owned companies in the country are underperforming or already collapsed mainly due to incompetence of the appointments to their Boards made based on who knows who, political affiliations and alliances instead of competence.