A solar leasing company, Off Grid Electric, is targeting one million Tanzanian households by the end of 2017, in its latest plan to supply safe and reliable solar electricity to rural dwellers.
Launching the ‘One Million Solar Homes initiative in Dar es salaam yesterday, the Director of Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Mr Lutenga Mwakahesya told reporters that the government was banking on the initiative to ensure that more people in rural areas use clean energy alternatives.
The plan, whose mode of operation was demonstrated before journalists, sets a model for other nations working towards the Power Africa initiative which was announced by President Obama in 2013 to electrify 60 million homes.
More than 30,000 households in Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Geita and Tanga regions are already enjoying the solar electricity at Sh300 per day, thanks to installations provided by the Arusha-based company Off Grid Electric Limited, which is operating locally under the name “M-POWER.”
Mr Mwakahesya highlighted the fact that 86 per cent of Tanzanians still depend on kerosene and candles for lighting their homes.
The cost of installing the solar equipment in one home stands at Sh50,000, to which the Off Grid Electric Chief Operating Officer Ms Erica Mackey said, it was far below the cost of using kerosene.
The International Finance Corporation has already provided $7m to the Off Grid Electric Company for the project.
yet another solar distribution plan that will see 100,000 households and small businesses in Northern Tanzania benefit from the renewable energy.
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and USAID Development Innovation Ventures Program are some of the other major funders of the project that is expected to offer low-cots solutions electricity to most needy communities in Tanzania.
In a statement released to the press, former US Ambassador to Tanzania Mr Alfonso Lenhardt who is the USAID Deputy Administrator noted that with his experience as ambassador in Tanzania, he knew how improved access to electricity could empower vulnerable communities to escape a cycle of extreme poverty
He said. ‘’By harnessing innovation to implement scalable, low-cost solutions, we can bring clean, renewable energy to Tanzania’s most vulnerable communities’’
Source: The Citizen
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