ippmedia.com/en/business/siemens-seeks-invest-power-sector
April 17, 2018
17
Apr 2018
Correpondent
Business
The Guardian
Siemens seeks to invest in power sector
- • A Siemens’s senior official revealed the investment plan mid last month during a strategic partnership meeting the Executive Director of Tanzania Investment Centre in Dar es Salaam
Siemens (PTY) Limited has disclosed plans to invest in the country’s power sector saying it is looking at generating 1,000 megawatts of which 800 megawatts will be generated using natural gas.
The South Africa based did not make known the value of the investment but said it was prepared for the grand capital project, which will be a huge boost to the fifth government’s endeavour to diversify the country’s energy mix.
The commitment is also a big shot in the arm of the administration’s industrialization agenda, which is pivotal to the aspiration to make Tanzania a middle-income economy by mid next decade. It equally augurs well for efforts to increase access to electricity, which despite rising by 21 per cent during 2006 – 2016 remains low at 30 per cent.
A Siemens’s senior official revealed the investment plan mid last month during a strategic partnership meeting the Executive Director of Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Geoffrey Mwambe, in Dar es Salaam. Mwambe (pictured) said TIC will soon sit down with the company to map out the strategy to assist facilitation and implementation of the project.
“Siemens is prepared for this initiative and we can structure any type of proposal, including 100 per cent financing of the project,” Stephan Luyt, the South Africa Regional Account Manager of the company said without giving the timeline for implementing the project.
Excited by the Siemens news, Mwambe said the initiative will be supported by the government and the investment fast tracked because of its importance in industrializing the economy. According to him, an extensive power supply system is a fundamental pre-requisite for economic growth and overall national development.
“We believe that this project will be very crucial in improving sectors like energy and manufacturing which will automatically support our industrialization agenda and modernization of the agricultural sector,” he noted.
Currently the country's installed electric power capacity from all sources stands at 1,585MW against the demand of about 1,400MW. Tanzania’s demand for energy is growing by 10 per cent every year because of accelerating investments in mining and industry, and an increase in consumption by connected users and newly connected households.
Energy Sector Reform Strategy and Roadmap covering 2014–2025 aims to increase the country’s installed power capacity from current levels to at least 10, 000 MW by 2025 with a gas and renewable sources playing a decisive role.
The African Development Bank says opportunities for new power generation are abundant: generation potential from hydro (4.7 GW), coal (1.9 billion tonnes), geothermal (650 MW), gas (55 trillion cubic feet) and renewables (wind and solar).