Angalia habari hii...
At last, Richmond pumps in 20mw
ABDUEL KENGE
Daily News; Wednesday,December 20, 2006
RICHMOND Development Corporation (RDC) said yesterday
that they have started feeding 20 megawatts to the national grid after missing the deadline three weeks ago.
Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) has, however, said that RDC would still be making testing equipment and matching the same with the national grid system before full commercial operation.
Tanesco Public Relations Manager Daniel Mshana told the 'Daily News' yesterday that the gas turbine test firing and synchronisation was the final stage in connecting two systems, but anything might happen to reverse the operation.
"We have not started receiving any power from Richmond," Mr Mshana said, adding: "But if nothing goes wrong there are signs of getting power (from Richmond) soon."
RDC Country Manager Naeem Gire said they have started supplying 20MW to the national grid after successful tests and matching of RDC and Tanesco system.
"We are now supplying the national) grid with 20MW," Mr Gire, who was in jovial mood, said, some two hours before the 'Daily News' interviewed Tanesco.
He said the company has spent a huge sum of its own funds that made the mobile gas/diesel turbine operate.
He, however, declined to disclose how much it had cost RDC.
The Minster for Energy and Minerals, Mr Nazir Karamagi, said earlier that RDC were yet to be paid a single cent. The first installment was supposed to be paid after the supply of 20MW, he added.
RDC was hired in September to generate 100MW under emergence power agreement in the next two years to save the nation from long blackouts.
According to the agreement, Richmond was supposed to supply 20MW after 60 days of the signing of the contract and the remaining 80MW at later dates.
Mr Karamagi said according to the agreement signed in September, this year, Richmond was suppose to supply 100MW by February.
He also said the power shedding was set to improve by this month.
Meanwhile, the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZECO) has reduced the power rationing hours, from four to two hours a day effective Monday.
The corporation's Public Relations Officer, Mr Salum Hassan, said here yesterday that the decision to review load-shedding was taken by the management, following an increase of water level at Mtera Dam.
Under the new load-shedding programme, he said Zanzibar would be divided into three zones covering both rural and urban centres.
Each zone will have two weekly power blackouts instead of four. He said the Zeco management had first consulted
with their mainland counterpart - Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) before drawing a new timetable on load-shedding.
Zanzibar has since in 1980 been receiving electricity via a marine cable from the Mainland. The marine cable, laid down in 1979, has the capacity of transmitting 45 megawatts.
Unlike in Zanzibar, Tanzania mainland experiences power blackout of more than six hours daily, following the decline of water level at the Mtera dam.
In another development, Mr Hassan said the frequent power cuts in several parts of the Zanzibar Municipality and its suburbs at the weekend were a result of technical faults at a substation situated in the town.
However, he said technicians acted swiftly and found a short-term solution.