Supporting energy security and regional integration between Eastern and Southern Africa

The energy potential in Eastern Africa is considerable, diverse and low cost while on the other hand, Zambia and the Southern African region in general continue to have a significant energy deficit.

The growing need to address national electricity supply and demand imbalances has stimulated interest in cross-border electricity trade, leading to the creation of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) in 1995 - 12 countries with a population of 280 million and an installed capacity of 56 GW - and EAPP (Eastern African Power Pool) in 2005 - including 11 countries with a population of 430 million and an installed capacity of 51 GW.

Regional integration of the electricity sector is a priority in the SAPP and EAPP master plans to allow the pooling of energy resources of the region. As the Ethiopia-Kenya and Kenya-Tanzania connections are under construction, the connection between Tanzania and Zambia will be the last link in the interconnection between EAPP and SAPP.

The objective is to improve the security of electricity supply in southern Tanzania and Zambia by broadly developing the regional integration of electricity grids in East and Southern Africa through the following actions:

1. Construction of a 620 km dual 400 kV transmission line between Iringa and Tunduma via Kisada and Mbeya and between Tunduma and Sumbawanga. A 4 km section of 330 kV line is also included in the project and will connect the Tunduma interconnection substation to the Zambian border and the nearest substation located at Nakonde ;
2. Construction of four new substations in Kisada, Mbeya, Tunduma, Sumbawanga. The Tunduma substation will be equipped with a very high voltage transformer allowing the connection of the Zambian network operated in 330 kV to the Tanzanian network operated in 400 kV ;
3. Capacity building activities will also be carried out to improve Tanesco’s operational and financial performance.
    

The project aims to have the following impacts: 

• Improve the security of electricity supply to countries in the region by opening new opportunities for electricity exchange the countries ;
• Improve valuation, integration and exploitation of renewable resources available in the region (hydroelectricity, wind, solar, geothermal) through the regional integration of electricity markets ;
• Provide reliable access to electricity in some remote areas of southern Tanzania by extending the electricity transmission network ;
• Shutdown of a 5 MW diesel-powered power, which will be replaced by the country’s 50% hydroelectric energy mix.