Tanzania will sign a deal to import 400MW hydro-power processed electricity from Ethiopia, within the coming weeks.
The national Ethiopia Electric Company (EEP) made the announcement on August 27th 2016.
Azeb Asnake, CEO of EEP, said that this is expected to strengthen the economic relations between Tanzania and Ethiopia.
He added that the deal will also strengthen the ties between Tanzania and Kenya since the electricity will pass through the latter in order to be delivered to Tanzania.
Currently (2016), the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD), which will produce hydro-electric power, is over 50% complete and will be Africa’s largest dam.
GERD is located along the Nile River in the Benshangul Gumz region near the Sudanese border. The dam will have power generation capacity of 8,000MW.
Tanzania Electricity Demand
The average electricity consumption per capita in Tanzania is 108kWh per year, compared to Sub-Saharan Africa’s average consumption of 550kWh per year, and 2,500kWh average world consumption per year.
However, the demand for electricity in Tanzania is estimated to be growing at 10–15% per year, with currently only 24% of the total population having access to electricity.
Tanzania also imports power from Uganda (10MW), Zambia (5MW) and Kenya (1MW).
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