Mini-hydro power project serves 14 Mufindi villages

The Mwenga Hydro-power project, a 4-MW plant in Mufindi District in Iringa Region supplying people in 14 villages with electricity.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Guardian over the weekend, the Operations Manager Joel Gomba said since being commissioned on September 1, 2012, it has been supplying approximately 95 percent of its power to the National Grid under a Standardised Power Purchase Agreement contract (SPPA).

“This is the first green field SPPA project to be constructed in Tanzania, at a cost of approximately $10 million. An important part of the project is an associated rural distribution network that currently supplies grid quality power to 14 remote and previously unsupplied rural villages within the Mufindi District,” he said.

He added: “These villages are home to an estimated 24,000 people. There is more than 125 km of distribution network that has so far been constructed as part of this project, which continues to grow in line with customer demand.”

Gomba pointed out that currently there are 17 transformers installed within the 14 villages, and that they expect to install another seven in the coming year, so as to ensure that each village is adequately covered.

“As of the 10th January 2014, we supply 768 customer connections with grid quality power, and have received an additional 250 customer connection applications, most of which are still completing their internal house wiring, and will call us when they are ready to connect,” he said.

He noted: “We continue to receive new customer connection applications every week. Our current target is to connect new customers within 5 days of which some of them have already paid their application fee”
Mwenga Hydro Limited Financial Controler Deograsias Masawe said: “ We have supplied all public institutions within the current project area, including 15 schools, 9 clinics and dispensaries as well as 11 village and ward offices – as well as a range of SME’s and of course households.”

He insisted: “We supply all of our rural customers at the existing TANESCO tariffs, including the subsidized D1 tariff for rural domestic connections, which make up more than 80 percent of our connection numbers.”

Masawe also said that they are now using an innovative and unique cellular phone based prepaid metering system for their customers that enable us to economically sell small quantities of power to large numbers of remote rural customers.

“The use of the existing TANESCO tariffs together with our cellular phone based pre paid vending system within our rural distribution network creates a sustainable business model once sufficient customers are connected, and are productively using electricity within their daily lives,” he said.

He went on saying: “We expect to ultimately connect more than 2600 customers in the existing 14 villages that we serve, and are currently seeking funding to expand our existing network to cover an additional 18 villages which contain an additional 3000 connections, another 200 km of distribution network who neighbor the greater project area.”

Co---financing for the existing project was obtained from both the European Union and the Rural Energy Agency.

For his part, Ihanu Secondary School Assistant Head Master Espedito Ndale said: “We thank Mwenga Hydro Project for supplying us with electricity because after getting the power our students have now able to study during night hours and their results have improved.”

Ihanu Village Executive Officer Kyando Alfayo said: “There are a lot of developments activities which are now conducted in our village, people are now opening business activities that are operated by electricity such as milling machines”
Ikanga villager Albert Kabonge revealed that after getting the power they are now able to get information and news through televisions: “We have bought TV’s and we and now able to received breaking news, we thank the project for bring us the power.”

Ikanga Primary School standard seven pupils Abel Nkina said: “After the power being connected to our school, we are now attending evening classes at school; this situation assists us to learn more after school hours.”

The 14 villages that have been connected are of Isipi, Lulanda, Iyegela, Ibwanzi, Nandala, Ihanu, Kilosa, Ikanga and Kidete. Others are Mlevelawa, Ikanin’gombe, Igoda, Luhunga, and Mkonge 

SOURCE: IPPMEDIA

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