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 "I don't dare to go to bed before getting it done. If I did, I would
rather stay at home because my teacher would be mad at me and hit me
hard as if she was killing a snake," said Mjungu, as the lamp, made
from a used cooking oil tin, cast scary shadows on the sitting room
walls.
For years, 14-year-old Mjungu, a pupil at Usinge primary school in
remote Tura village in Tanzania’s Tabora region, has been trying to
convince her mother to buy a Chinese-made solar lamp, which would
not emit smoke that makes her cough.
Her mother says pupils have long survived studying by firelight or
even moonlight, and “circumstances are such that I cannot afford any
other kind of lamp."
But their household will soon be among hundreds to benefit from a
new government-run solar power project, intended to bring
electricity off-grid areas of rural Tanzania.
THE SOLAR GRID
More than 840 households – and, crucially, small factories - in
Tabora, Dodoma and Katavi regions so far have been connected to
solar grid systems, in which large numbers of solar panels feed
batteries housed in shipping containers, with the power then carried
out to the community on distribution lines similar to those used by
Tanesco, the state-run power utility.
"I am very happy to be part of this project. I hope my children will
now spend more time studying in bright light and they will no longer
suffer from the smoke," said Mjungu’s mother, Mama Dora.
Edward Ishengoma, an alternative energy commissioner in the Ministry
of Energy and Minerals, said 14 solar containers, each with the
capacity to supply electricity to 60 households or businesses, have
been installed by Elektro Merl, an Austrian firm, at a cost of 13
billion Tanzanian shillings, or $6 million. Chinese firm Chicco has
also been contracted to supply solar units.
The funds, which come from a loan from Austria’s government to
Tanzania, include maintenance and repairs for five years, officials
said.
The project aims to reach people in remote villages not covered by
the country’s Rural Energy Agency projects, Ishengoma said. After
the pilot phase of the project ends in July this year, he said, the
government plans to install 600 more solar "generators" in villages
around the country.
"People can also use these solar generators for their economic
activities since they contain power outlets that can be connected to
simple machines such as water pumps and welding,” he said. “We hope
that they will find them useful and improve their life.”
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Styden Rwebangila, the solar project’s coordinator, said the
government hopes to connect solar power to schools, health centers
and churches as well as part of its development initiative called
Big Results Now.
The solar generators “are very powerful,” he said.
SOLAR SAWMILL
Salum Maulid, who runs a small sawmill in Tura village, said the
solar generator in his village – which sits a stone’s throw away
from his home - is now powering the machines he uses in his work.
"It has really simplified my work; I get enough power to run the
drills and electric saws,” he said.
The new solar energy access is currently being provided free of
charge, government officials said, though arrangements are being
made to ensure users contribute something to cover the project’s
ongoing costs.
Similar projects are being implemented in Senegal, Mali, Cameroon
and Gambia, officials said.
Tanzania has a very low level of electricity consumption per capita,
with only 18 percent of the country currently connected to
traditional grid power, according to the Ministry of Energy and
Minerals.
While diesel generators provide power in many unconnected areas,
they can be expensive and polluting, experts say, noting that
renewable energy offers a cheaper and less polluting alternative,
once systems are in place.
(Reporting by Kizito Makoye; editing by Laurie Goering)
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