Tanzania Geothermal Resources Development – Current Status

Abstract

Tanzania is developing a vibrant energy sector that is destined to support economic growth and improved quality of life of the people, as the country transforms into a middle income middle income and semi-industrialized economy by 2025. This goal can be realized if the sector can provide reliable, affordable, safe, and environment friendly modern energy services. The generation plan considers geothermal as one of the energy sources in diversified energy mix. The geothermal resource of Tanzania is estimated to exceed 5000MW, but it is not yet exploited for power generation except limited non-commercial direct use applications. In order to exploit to the country’s enormous geothermal resources, the government has taken a number of steps including establishing a dedicated a company for geothermal development in 2013, developing domestic capacity in terms of human skills and equipment and improving enabling environment mainly streamlining of the legal and regulatory framework. The government has set a target of achieving at least 200 MW from geothermal by 2025. For achieving the target, four geothermal projects are being implemented and have reached test drilling phase to confirm the resource. This paper presents the current status of geothermal development in Tanzania, challenges and lessons learnt. In addition it presents the results of exploration studies, mobilization of funds and local capacity development as well as communities engagement prior to the planned test drilling.