Tanzania National Renewable Energy Day 2017, Kigoma Town

TAREA conducts National Renewable Energy Day once every year. In the year 2017 event was held in Kigoma in the duration of 13-14 October. The event aims at raising awareness to the public on the potentials and limitations of renewable energy technologies. The event focuses at the communities living in the off-grid areas to show cases of alternative sources of energy to the national grid and fossil cooking sources of energy. The event offers to the renewable energy stakeholders opportunities of information exchange with government officials and exhibiting renewable energy technologies. The Tanzania government institutions that were present in the event are: Vocational Education and Training Authority-Kigoma, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Prisons-Sumbawanga, Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), Rural Energy Agency (REA), Electricity and Water Regulatory Authority (EWURA) and Tanzania Bureau of Standards.

Development partners that were present are: European Union, Lighting Africa Tanzania Project (World Bank), GIZ-Sustainable Energy Program and SNV Netherlands.

The event was officiated by the Kigoma Regional Commissioner Lt. Emmanuel Maganga and closed by the Kigoma District Commissioner Mr. Samson Rainald Anga.

Participants had opportunity of visiting solar farm 5MW that is being developed by the company Nextgen. The solar farm will be connected to the isolated TANESCO grid that supplies electricity to the Kigoma region. Further, participants had opportunity of visiting the museum of Livingstone at Kigoma Ujiji.

There was a great support from the government Institutions (Kigoma) in realizing the event. Just to mention few: Regional Commissioner and District Commissioner offices, Police Force, District Medical Office, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation. The community in Kigoma was very much welcoming to the visitors. There are great opportunities of working in the areas of renewable energy along the Lake Tanganyika. Regions along Lake Kigoma being off-grid give opportunities of developing off-grid solutions of wind power, solar systems and biomass.

Government leaders (Regional Commissioner and Districtric Commissioner), Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation Manager-Kigoma and communities in along Lake Tanganyika have insisted TAREA to promote wind power and increase awareness raising in the whole region of Kigoma. It is high time TAREA to work with members and development partners in responding to the community energy needs along Lake Tanganyika.