The world is facing growing climate crises, harmful energy-resource profiteering, and catastrophic losses of key species critical to ecosystems at various scales. Heavy reliance on unsustainable energy sources and practices have led to ecosystem distortion and negative health impacts. Total primary energy supply in Tanzania is dominated by biomass and has almost doubled in the last decade, making up close to 90% of the total primary energy consumption. 63.5% of the households use firewood as the main source of cooking energy, and 26.2% use charcoal.

The remaining share comprises of 5.1% liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and 3% electricity, while 2.2% use alternative energy sources. Biomass is produced and used in inefficient technologies contributing to deforestation and health challenges that affect the wellbeing of populations.

The annual deforestation rate is approximately 460,000 ha/year. Electricity is mainly generated from hydropower, oil and more recently natural gas. Total installed capacity by 2019 was 1565.72MW, consisting of hydro 573.70MW, natural gas 892.72MW, liquid fuel 88.80MW and biomass 10.50MW. It is estimated that 78.4% of the total population have access to the grid electricity while households connected are 37.7% with 73.2% of urban and 24.5% of rural areas electrified. The households electrified by solar photovoltaic technology are estimated at 30.4%.

Costly fuel oil sources account for around one-fifth of power generation and are mainly required for off-grid applications and emergency on-grid power supply. Electrical supply varies in times of drought and is highly dependent on hydropower generation, leading to rolling blackouts. The unreliability of power supply has had a negative impact on the development of Tanzanian industry.

Although Tanzania has excellent wind, solar, geothermal and biomass resources for power production. The country’s abundant renewable energy potential offers the possibility to overcome some of the challenges faced by the energy and power sector in a cost-effective way. This would lead Tanzania towards economic growth that is sustainable. However, this potential has not been fully exploited.

Tapping more of these sustainable resources would facilitate Tanzania’s ecological and socio-economic transformation, and therefore accelerating country initiative to achieve her development vision 2025. Countries with higher shares of renewables in their total energy consumption enjoy a greater level of energy independence and security.

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Local SustainableLocal Sustainable Solutions - Tanzania Solutions

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