Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has repeated the government’s commitment on the move to environmentally friendly power sources, such as solar and wind, the objective being to expand the area as well as manage power deficiencies because of the effects of climate change.
Mr Majaliwa revealed this on the sideline of the fifth version of the Tanzania Energy Congress, which opened in Dar es Salaam on 20th September.
The two-day congress is coordinated by the Service of Energy in organization with DMG Events and Ocean Business Partners.
The congress has attracted participants from government, national and international companies, medium, and miniature ventures from a few nations including the Unified Realm, Scandinavian nations, Oman, Kuwait, and all the Southern Africa Improvement People group (SADC) and East African People group nations.
“Currently Tanzania is implementing 7 key projects in the energy sector majority have been focused on hydropower generation although the scope has been expanded to natural gas and fuel generation,” said Mr Majaliwa, noting that the plan is to further expand as the country eyes a mix of power generation through wind and solar sources of energy.
Thus, the meeting’s deliberation envisions coming up with more solutions for participating countries including Tanzania by bringing together experts who will identify ways of dealing with the current energy shortage resulting from hydro, fuel, and gas generation.
The Premier indicated that financial institutions were also present at the congress to assure Tanzanians who will decide to venture into the projects that they can access capital.
He said such will help the country to realize its goal of becoming a major producer of electricity through the country’s available resources, while ensuring access to enough, affordable, and reliable electricity for all.
“The major plan is to sell electricity outside the country the government has taken rigorous steps in gas exploration both in the mainland and Zanzibar and companies have already started production.
The PM noted that the meeting is beneficial to Tanzanians as it encourages entrepreneurs to use the opportunities to partner with international companies to increase the capacity of power generation.
For his part, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy Dr Doto Biteko noted that the ministry was tirelessly working to ensure Tanzania has a reliable power supply, the reason they have embarked on short, medium, and long-term plans to deal with the problem. The same applies to gas and fast-track projects for a more reliable power supply.
He revealed that energy is more than access to electricity alone, indicating that over 675 million people still lack access to electricity and 2.3 billion people do not have access to clean energy.
