Browsing: Electricity in Africa

• The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) is currently implementing almost ten hours of power rationing across the country.
• Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has instructed the Tanesco chief to resolve the power rationing issue within six months.
• The country’s electricity grid is facing a shortage of 400 megawatts due to low water flow and maintenance issues.

Dear customer, please find today’s schedule for power rationing. This message has become all too familiar to millions of Tanzanians every morning, depressing news that now servs as a wake-up alarm from utility Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco).

Currently, power cuts in Tanzania, specifically in the commercial pulse, Dar es Salaam, range from 6 to 12 hours throughout the week, across various districts, including uprise sections.

The message comes as a shock not only to me but also to many Tanzanians as power cuts take a new toll in the nation with abundant alternative …

The government of Burkina Faso and the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $450 million compact agreement to address low access to electricity in the country.

The compact deal will invest in the power sector to broaden and sustain the country’s economic growth.

“We are marking a new chapter in the partnership between the United States and the people of Burkina Faso with the signing of this second MCC-Burkina Faso Compact,” said Sean Cairncross MCC CEO.

“This compact will address the high cost, poor quality, and low access to electricity in Burkina Faso and will also support the country’s increased participation in regional power markets and the development of a potential MCC regional investment.” He added

In addition to the $450 million pledged by the MCC for the second compact, Burkina Faso’s government pledged to invest $50 million toward the compact’s projects.

An estimate of 8 million people …

Uganda’s Umeme has secured a $70 million syndicated loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dutch Development Bank (FMO), Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic bank.

From the loan $28 million was from IFC, $10 million from FMO, $16 million from Standard Chartered Bank and $16 million from Stanbic bank.

Umeme chairman, Mr Patrick Bitature said the loan would partly be used to undertake capital investments to get electricity from Uganda’s newest dams.

“The planned investments are aimed at expanding the network to uptake the new generation, improve reliability and create access,” he said.

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Mr Bitature said the loan would also be utilised to prioritise Umeme’s investments in five other areas such as upgrading its network, extending power to industrial parks, building the backbone for more electricity connections to be supplied, reducing energy losses and accelerate prepayment metering.…