The Managing Director of Six Telecoms, which is among partners to the project, Rashid Shamte told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the PPA negotiations with TANESCO, Ministry of Energy and Minerals and Attorney General office were at advanced stage and would be concluded by April, next year. "By April or May we will finalise the negotiation and the project will begin.

 

We're at very advanced stages," he said on the sidelines of the two-day Africa Energy Forum: Off the Grid summit. The US $300 million Singida Wind Farm, is a potential 100 megawatts (130,000 hp) wind-powered electricity power station developed by Wind Power East Africa Limited in Singida Region.

 

It is expected to generate up to 100 megawatts of electricity that will be sold to TANESCO for integration into the national power grid.

 

The power station is owned by a consortium that consists of Six Telecoms, a Tanzanian company, Aldwych International Limited of the United Kingdom and the International Finance Corporation, based in Washington, D.C. Wind East Africa Limited is the special purpose vehicle formed by the consortium to develop, own and operate the power station.

 

Mr Shamte said it would take about 22 months of construction of the project before power generation begins. He said more than 250 families would be relocated to pave the way for construction of the project and they were currently in negotiations with them, the regional authority and the ministry of energy and minerals to make sure the relocation would be done in the best way possible.

 

He said they were committed to build houses to each family that will be relocated on top of compensation in monetary terms.

 

Tanzania is among East African countries that have adopted renewable energy technologies including solar, geothermal and wind power as it implements a national energy policy whose goal is to increase the country's overall electricity connectivity to 50 per cent by 2025 and to at least 75 per cent by 2033.

 

The National Rural Electrification Programme (2013-2022) under which the policy is implemented, includes both on-grid and off-grid solutions. Analysts say with demand for electricity growing nearly 15 per cent per year and country's vast water and gas reserves continue to provide the bulk of power, the country seeks to wean its electricity away from aging, unreliable hydropower plants.

 

It is expected that the wind farm in Singida will add much-needed power to the national grid, as well as bring investment and economic opportunities to the country.

Source : allafrica.com