- Anzana Electric Group (formerly Virunga Power) and InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), have today announced the signing of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with TANESCO, the state-owned national utility of Tanzania, which took place earlier this month in Dodoma.
- The PPA signing is a significant milestone for the 4.6MW Lilondi Hydropower project which is expected to be the the first of a portfolio of six run-of-river hydro plants to be developed by the partners in Tanzania.
Located in the country’s Ruvuma Region, close to Tanzania’s border with Malawi, the Lilondi run-of-river hydro plant will supply clean, baseload power into both TANESCO’s local grid network and a high-voltage substation in Madaba District. The project seeks to contribute towards the achievement of SDG 7: Affordable, Reliable and Modern Energy for All, specifically around increasing renewables in the global energy mix.
It is anticipated that Lilondi will demonstrate the viability of the country’s small hydro resource, attracting further private sector finance to the sector and enabling its replication across rural Tanzania and the wider region. A grant from PIDG Technical Assistance is being used to undertake pre-feasibility studies for the wider portfolio which is expected to add up to 50MW of clean hydropower to Tanzania’s rural electricity generation capacity.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
