- Tanzania aims to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030.
- The East African country will host Africa Heads of State Energy Compact Summit.
- Currently, over 90 per cent of villages in Tanzania are connected to electricity.
Tanzania energy sector is making steady strides toward its ambitious goals, with the country reaffirming its commitment to achieving universal electricity access by 2030. This bold statement was made by Dr. Doto Biteko, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, who underscored the nation’s strategic focus on harnessing its surplus power generation to meet the energy needs of neighbouring countries.
Dr. Biteko highlighted the promising prospects of increased electricity production, particularly through key ongoing projects such as the Julius Nyerere Hydro Power Project (JNHPP), which is set to contribute 2,115MW to the national grid.
Reflecting on the discussions at the 9th Africa Energy Market Place meeting held in October, Dr. Biteko underscored that these efforts are part of Tanzania’s preparation for hosting the Africa Heads of State Energy Compact Summit in January 2025, an event poised to spotlight the country’s growing role in Africa’s energy landscape.
He said at the Africa Heads of State Energy Compact Summit, Tanzania will be looking to raise in excess of $190 billionr to fund its goal of universal access to electricity by 2030.
“Tanzania has been picked by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to host the Africa Heads of State Energy Compact Summit due to its commitment to extend electricity access to rural and peri-urban areas,” he detailed.
As a result, he said, Tanzania serves to offer best practice to other African countries in terms of rural electrification; “currently almost all villages in the country are connected with electricity,” the minister said.
“The country stands as a role model when it comes to rural electrification in the continent,” the executive added. “Furthermore, as we embark on providing more than 300 million people across Africa with electricity by 2030, Tanzania is at the driving seat of this remarkable transformation.”
In this endeavor, to provide universal electricity access across the country and elsewhere across the continent, the minister said the country has entered into partnership with its neighbouring countries including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Zambia to supply them with electricity.
Tanzania’s Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Energy, Eng. Felchesmi Mramba seconds the minister and calls on stakeholders in the private sector as well as development partners to explore opportunities and forge partnerships that will see the universal energy access goal achieved.
He expressed his confidence that the country will achieve its goal of providing electricity to all its villages by the end of this year. He estimated that there are some 12,278 villages, or 99.7 per cent of all rural areas, already connected to the national power grid or other sources.
He added that there are 32,827 hamlets of 64,359 that have been connected to electricity which represents 51 per cent of the sub-rural areas of the country.
“The electrification of villages has strengthened key sectors such as education, health, business and transportation, with more than 12,905 educational and healthcare institutions now connected to electricity, what it does is enhance service delivery to the public,” the top government official went on to explain.
He was also keen to point out that the country’s investments in alternative energy sources, including solar, geothermal and wind power, are expected to increase its electricity production capacity by some 1,100 megawatts.
“These efforts will attract investment into our industrial sector, already we see that the number of factories producing energy-related equipment such as poles and cables, has increased from 23 in 2020 to 78 in 2024,” he detailed.
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Tanzania energy expansion to rural areas
Electricity is the backbone of any country’s economic and social development, so far, Tanzania has increased its electricity production considerably, currently generating 1,410 megawatts from six turbines.
“By improving access to electricity, we enable citizens and entrepreneurs to fully contribute to the national economy, thereby increasing national income and improving the lives of every Tanzanian,” Eng. Mramba said.
The last Tanzania Electricity Access and Usage Report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was released five years ago in 2020. In that report, NBS says 69.6 per cent of rural citizens had access to electricity and the overall national coverage was 78.4 per cent.
Similarly, according to the 2022 Census report, Mainland Tanzania had a population of over 59 million ,and approximately 46 million had access to electricity; of these, more than 27 million were rural dwellers have electricity access.
Right now, NBS is conducting another assessment to determine the current level of electricity reach in rural areas as of this year. “That report is expected to be published as of March 2025,” he revealed.
The Rural Energy Agency (REA) confirms that it has extended electricity access to 12,240 villages across the country as of October last year, and achieved 99.1 per cent coverage of all villages.
The Director of Rural Electrification, Engineer Jones Olotu said; “When we started, only 506 villages out of the 12,318 had electricity. Today, we have reached 12,240 villages, leaving just 0.9 per cent without electricity.”
Eng. Olotu said the achievement reflects the government’s dedication to provide essential services to rural communities, and that currently, only 78 villages remain to be electrified and that contractors are already working to this end.
“Our goal is to electrify all villages and after that, we will focus on hamlets, where some work has already begun, and later we will extend services to households to ensure every household in need of electricity gets connected,” he detailed.
Known as the Tanzania Rural Electrification Expansion Program (TREEP), the World Bank funded project that operates under the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) serves to support the increase of access to electricity in rural areas across Tanzania.
TREEP objectives include scaling up the supply of renewable energy in rural areas and strengthening the sector’s institutional capacity.
“TREEP is a contribution to the country’s National Rural Electrification Program through both grid and off-grid approaches,” explains the World Bank report on progress of Tanzania Rural Electrification Expansion Program that it funds.
This includes support to Small Private Power Producers (SPPs) and other distributers of renewable energy sources such as Solar Home Systems (SHS), the report details.
“The program’s approach draws upon the experience of Tanzania under a predecessor project, Tanzania Energy Development and Access Expansion Project (TEDAP),” reads the report in part.
The objective of the Tanzania Energy Development and Access Expansion Project is to improve the quality and efficiency of electricity service provision and to establish a sustainable basis for energy access expansion.
“The project is consistent with the goals of the Government’s National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty,” details the report.
The project consists of three components, a grid component that focuses on urgent investments in Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO)’s transmission and distribution network.
Secondly it has an off-grid component to support institutional set-up for Rural Energy Agency (REA) and finally, it has a component to help develop and test new off-grid electrification approaches for future scale-up and technical assistance.