The Secretary of the Ministry of Energy Engineer Felchesmi Mramba has made a further commentary on the government’s move to buy electricity in Ethiopia through Kenya to Namanga region in Arusha will strengthen access to electricity in the northern regions of the northern region which is currently using electricity produced in the southern regions.
Speaking to reporters, on March 10, 2025 in Dar es Salaam Engineer Mramba said the purchase of electricity from neighboring countries does not mean that the country is in the challenge of electricity shortages because so far Tanzania produces enough electricity which is approximately 3,796 megawatts.
He said the move is beneficial to both parties as the method used to buy electricity in Ethiopia is the one that will be used to sell electricity to needy countries.
He said how electricity would be purchased, Ethiopia’s electricity would be installed in the Kenyan grid system and then Kenya would provide electricity to Tanzania to compensate for electricity imported from Ethiopia.
“This bilateral agreement has a time when we buy electricity and there are times when we use the same method to sell electricity to neighboring countries, we look at the North situation now we see we will take more than send it but there are times and they can need electricity and we will use the same method to send them”, he said.
He said the purchase and sale of electricity to the country is nothing new and Tanzania has long been buying electricity in Uganda for Kagera region, Zambia for Rukwa and Kenya region for some parts of the Tanga region especially on the border.
He said, Tanzania is continuing with the construction of the electricity transfer system from Tanzania to Zambia, and the project will provide an opportunity for Tanzania to sell electricity to southern Africa.
About the Julius Nyerere dam project which has so far reached 99.8 percent completed, he said it had a significant contribution to access to electricity in various parts of the country.
“In Julius Nyerere right now we are using the electricity we need, as our needs are 1,908 megawatts on the grid we cannot produce more because electricity will have no use”, said Engineer Mramba
He said Tanzania has joined the Eastern African Power Pool-Eapp and Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
He said in southern Africa the market was launched and operates for countries where infrastructure was already completed and now Tanzania is continuing with the implementation of the TAZA project which will be completed in Tanzania to take advantage of the electricity generated at the Julius Nyerere dam and other sources and start selling electricity to Southern Africa (SAPP).
Thus the main purpose of selling or purchasing electricity is the strengthening of the country’s electrical grid systems as well as reducing costs.
In light of the geography of Tanzania it will use the space for these electricity markets to buy and sell electricity from the eastern and southern African region.
The government through the Ministry of Energy continues to ensure that there is a solid infrastructure that will enable the procurement and sale of electricity within the EAPP and the SAPP zone so that Tanzania can benefit from selling and buying electricity but also to generate money from the cost of transmitting electricity from one region to another.
While various projects continue to be implemented at high speeds, the installation
