Construction on Tanzania's First Gas Fired Power Plant Begins

Construction on Tanzania’s first natural gas-fired power plant has commenced.

Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corporation have started construction on the Kinyerezi natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant, with a generation capacity of 240 megawatt, MHPS said in a press note published Thursday.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was concluded between Sumitomo Corporation and the state-run Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO).

The Kinyerezi power plant is expected provide nearly 20 percent of the country's total power generating capacity (about 1,500 megawatt). The construction site is located about 30 kilometer southwest of the former capital of Dar es Salaam.

Sumitomo Corporation as the prime contractor will coordinate all commercial affairs, MHPS will provide key equipment (six H-25 gas turbines and generators), and TPSC will supply heat recovery boilers, steam turbines and other equipment and undertake civil and installation works, as well as coordinate technical matters.

The project will cost a total of approximately 35 billion yen, the majority of which will co-financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and a commercial bank (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation).

Tanzania is suffering from chronic power shortages due to a decline in hydroelectric power generation, its primary power source. With large-scale domestic natural gas discoveries in recent years, Tanzania is hoping to use the gas to nearly double its 2012 electricity generating capacity by 2018, when the Kinyerezi power plant is expected to be completed.