Tanzanian Power Authorities have shut down five hydroelectric stations in a bid to reduce excess electricity in the national grid. This was disclosed by the country’s Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa.
According to Majaliwa, “The main plant, Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, alone generated enough electricity to power major cities. He said these included Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial hub.
According to report, this is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations due to excess production.
“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much. We have no allocation now,” an official from the state-run power company, Tanesco, said.
The report stated that the 2,115MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Dam is almost filled with water. This is following heavy rains that started early this year.
An analyst who spoke on the development bemoaned Nigerian power generation situations. He said, while Tanzanian has an installed capacity of 1,938MW and the grid installed capacity of 1,899MW, Nigeria is struggling to electrify 85 percent of its electricity consumers.
Nigeria has an installed capacity of 13,000MW. But the country is currently battling poor generation and distribution of electricity to its consumers.
Recall that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recently announced a hike in the tariff.
Introducing the categorization of its customers, NERC said those in Band A will be gettig 20 to 24 hours of electricity supply. While those in the B, C, D, and E category will get less.
