-  25 October 2006, by PowerNell. The East African comes with a critical analysis on the cabinet reshuffle of president Kikwete. In this article it is said, amongst others, that Richmond Development sold Tanesco "an unserviceable second-hand Boeing 707 engines purporting to be new power equipment" (The East African, 23 October, 2006). It gets crazier by the day.Richmond linked to president?Let me give you the full quote: "Richmond, it turned out, was after all briefcase outfit owned by Tanzanians who call the shots at State House. Initial investigations link Richmond Development (...) to an Arusha-based tycoon. He is said to have bankrolled Kikwete's presidential campaigns when his part…

-  25 October 2006, by PowerNell. Most of Dar es Salaam had power the last week, albeit regularly interrupted. Paradoxically, the citizens of Dar es Salaam are more worried now about the power situation than they were when they did not have daytime power. This is due to the absence of any power-related communication from the government and to pessimistic reports in the newspapers. Some headings of the last week: Blackouts fear as rationing worses (The Citizen, 19 October, 2006), Mwanza, Arusha, Singida face total darkness (The Guardian, 19 October, 2006), Power crisis comes to a head (Daily News, 18 October, 2006), and Power problem getting worse (Daily News, 10 October 2006). Many peop…

-  20 October 2006, by PowerNell. Apparently the failing Richmond Development Company is still in the picture at several ministries. According to This Day "some senior public officials" are trying to influence the minister of Finance to release a large sum of money to the company (This Day, 20 October, 2006). The Citizen reveils that Richmond is still not registered at the Tanzanian Investment Centre: Richmond applied for registration only recently. They do have a certificate of incorporation in Tanzania though. In this certificate Richmond enumerates the commercial activities in which it would like to be engaged: power, mining, transport, clearing and forwarding, agriculture, warehousi…

- 19 October 2006, by PowerNell. Nobody understands anymore what is going on. Dar es Salaam had power Sunday, yesterday and today, but newspapers and television report that power rationing will get worse soon. "The situation is so bad that there is no other option left other than to extend rationing during nught hours," a senior official of Tanesco told The Citizen. According to this newspaper night rationing would be imposed for for up to a month (The Citizen, October 19, 2006). One is wondering, WHY does Dar es Salaam have power today? Wouldn"t it be much wiser to save this electricity for the nights?Situation at Mtera unclearIt is even unclear whether the Mtera Dam power plant is still wo…

-  20 October 2006, by PowerNell. The public relations manager of Tanesco clarified yesterday that the imminent close down of Kidatu power plant will not affect Arusha and the entire Kilimanjaro, which are not on the country"s national power grid (This Day, 20 October, 2006), but get their power from Pangani river, through the hydropower stations at Nyumba ya Mungu Dam (The Guardian, 19 October, 2006). However The Guardian expects Arusha and Kilimanjaro also "likely to be affected by long hours of darkness" after experts said the Nyumba ya Mungu hydropower plant was generating just 2 MW instead of the maximum capacity of 8 MW.  Pangani river basinThe other two hydropower stations a…

- Telll us about your experiences with the power crisis. How do you make your coffee? How do you surf the internet? What is the timetable in your neighbourhood? It is followed? How is it affecting your work? How is it affecting your mood? Share your stories!

-  16 October 2006, by Powernell. Tanzanian president Kikwete has moved ten key ministers and eight deputy ministers to new workstations. One of them are Dr Ibrahim Msabaha, the minister of Energy and Minerals, and Lawrence Masha, the deputy of Energy and Minerals. The private sector is convinced that the Ministry of Energy was the main target: "The minister and his team have failed to find workable solutions in the energy sector, and this has been compounded by dubious energy contracts," said Louis Accaro, executive secretary of the Tanzanian Private Sector Foundation (source: The Citizen, 16 October, 2006). But... not a single member of the Cabinet was dropped...Comment of oppositionT…

- 12 October 2006, by PowerNell. I am speechless. I was convinced the government did everything they could to solve the power crisis. But... on June 23 this year SOMEONE in the government must have signed a contract with a company that apparently doesnt exist. This was reveiled Tuesday by The Citizen. A "senior diplomat in Dar es Salaam" told The Citizen in confidence that Richmond might be "a mailbox company". The American company is unknown at the U.S.A. department that registers private corporations, it is not able to secure a bank guarantee, it has only four employees, it cannot be reached by phone or e-mail, and the Tanzanian power deal is 344 times more than the officially quoted tradi…

-  Monday 9 October 2006, by PowerNell. During the power crisis the people of Dar es Salaam are divided in three. There is the people that don"t have a generator, the ones that have a generator but can"t afford to run it, and the ones with a generator and enough money or an employer to keep it running all day. I am the one in the middle. At least I have the opportunity to run a generator, so I am not complaining. But for all of you in the civilised world who think that problems are solved if only you have a generator: this is not the case. Before I can make myself a nice cup of coffee, I have to go outside, walk to the other end of the garden, refill the generator, press the button, wal…

-  10 October 2006, by PowerNell. Yesterday the water level at Mtera Dam was 687.33 metres above sea level. In order to stop the current power rationing across the country, the water level should be at least 695 meters above sea level (source: The Guardian, 3 July 2006). Usually power-generation at Mtera is permitted until 690 metres, but in January, the government permitted Tanesco to continue until the level dropped to 687 metres. The decrease in the water level is mainly caused by drought. To fill the Mtera Dam, the government is studying possibilities to make articifial rain.Available hydropowerThe maximum capacity of Tanzania"s hydropower plants is 561 MW per day. The bulk power co…

-  10 October 2006, by PowerNell. In 15 days from today the Mtera Dam hydro-power generators will stop due to low water level. If the dam dries up, five regions, namely Singida, Mwanza, Tabora, Mara and Shinyanga will remain in total darkness, until emergency power plants are activated. The managing director of Tanesco (Tanzania Electric Supply Company): "We will not be able to supply power to the northern part of the country. A 40 MW plant should be installed in Mwanza as soon as a supplier is picked out of the four being scrutinised."Expected emergency generatorsBy mid-October two emergency generators were expected to be installed: a 22 MW gas turbine from Richmond Development Company…

- Friday 6 October 2006, by PowerNell. Tanesco has recently discovered that some of its prepayment luku customers are being charged the monthly service charge more than once a month. This only concerns the customers who buy luku more than once a month and at different luku stations. This was announced today by Tanesco in a notice in The Citizen. In Tanzania domestic customers pay for their electricity on a prepaid basis. They have a meter at home for which they pay luku, a Kiswahili abbreviation for "lipa umeme kadri unavyotumia", which in English means "pay for electricity as you use" (source: Tanesco).Recharge bill On the Tanesco recharge bill there is always a certain amount of month…

- Monday 9 October 2006, by PowerNell. Today a 22 MW gas turbine was expected to arrive in the country. This turbine was supposed to ease our power rationing by mid-October. The turbine however is still in North Carolina, U.S.A., as supplier Richmond states the contract does not include air freight. For us humble Tanzanians this means continuing power rationing. What a desillusion. People are losing their patience a bit. Today it is three weeks ago that the people of Tanzania had daytime power.RichmondRichmond wants an advance payment from the Tanzanian government of 10 million dollars for the air freight charges. Apparently the contract was not clear on this point. The report in today"s Dai…

-  Friday 6 October 2006, by PowerNell. Despite of the announcement mid-September that Zanzibar would from now on be included in the load shedding, the island still has power every day. That raises all kind of questions. Although Zanzibar and Tanzania are officially united in one state, until mid-September Zanzibar was excluded from the load shedding. This had led to complaints from the public, for instance in the editorial of Business Times, where this decision is called a "grave anomaly".Editorial Business TimesThe editorial: "For all practical purposes, we are told, the Isles is part and parcel Tanzania. This being the case, to give it special treatment (...) is problematic. For the…

-  29 September 2006, by PowerNell. Okay, power is not restored. At least not on a regular basis. Thursday I did not have power. It was switched off at 06.00 and restored at 17.00, according to the new timetable, which was apparently announced last Monday. But today I had power from 12.00 onwards. In the local media people are complaining about the 'surpise power cuts". A resident of Sinza: "The whole of last night we did not have electricity around this area and there was no proper explanation as to why" (Source: The Express, September 28, 2006). Funny commentA funny comment was found on the opinion page of The Express. A 'concerned reader from Dar es Salaam" writes: '(...) I…

-  27 September 2006, by PowerNell. Power has been restored in Tanzania! Apparently from now on we will have daytime power from 13.00 onwards. That is: daily. Big eyes of hope and disbelief. It seems to be such a long time ago. Today I was at a place where the aircondioning was running, quite unexpectedly, without the background noise of the generator. It came to me as a shock: Tanesco must be back. At daytime.Mixed messagesIt was a bit unclear when power was to be restored. Last week it was announced that there would be more power by Tuesday (yesterday), but that was only supposed to be power for the industrial areas. Yesterday the Minister for Energy and Minerals said that by next mon…

-  26 September 2006, by PowerNell. Today the SonGas power plant at Ubungo, Dar es Salaam, is expected to return to full capacity. On August 23 the SonGas turbine no 6 broke down, causing extended power rationing in Tanzania. The broken turbine is replaced by a temporary 40 MW gas turbine engine, which was flown in last Friday from the Netherlands. The broken turbine is still in the Netherlands at a General Electric repair facility, and will be back in service by mid-October.Many broken turbines in 2006This year four out of six turbines at the Ubungo power plant have been fallen out. In February the breakdown of two turbines (UGT1 and UGT2) and a generator scaled down the output by abou…

-  25 September 2006, by PowerNell in Dar es Salaam. The effects of power rationing are felt in the whole of Tanzania. Recently Arusha Times published some interesting figures on the diesel expenditures of some Arusha based companies. The Shoprite supermarket for instance is now using 18,000 litres of diesel per month to keep their generator running, which is costing them TSh 23,400,000 a month (about USD 18,000). At the central market the sales of the fish outlets have dropped from about TSh 200,000 to 20,000 a day, as most of the businesses cannot afford generators.Power fluctuationsEven the companies that are spared of the load shedding are hit hard, as the power fluctuations and sur…

-  Thursday 21 September 2006, by PowerNell. It took some time before I actually laid my hands on it, but now I have it in front of me: the announcement of Tanesco that was published in the newspapers last Saturday. In this announcement Tanesco gave the full load shedding time table for the Dar es Salaam region, and urged customers not to work at night and not to waste any power when it is available.Appeal Tanesco to customers"TANESCO Management, once again, reminds its esteemed customers as follows:They should not work at night as this will increase the load and defeat the purpose of load shedding. When power is available to their premises, they should use it carefully to avoid any was…

-  Wednesday 20 September, by PowerNell. There is a ray of hope at the horizon. An emergency 75 MW generator is being installed at the Ubungo power plant in Dar es Salaam. Next Tuesday it will be operational, adding 75 MW to the national grid. This assurance was given yesterday by the Minister for Energy and minerals, who had accompanied Prime Minister Edward Lowassa to the Songas power plant, after receiving reports that a third 35 MW turbine had broken down and ceased operation. Two out of six turbines at Songas are out of order, a 40 MW and a 35 MW turbine.  Government is working hard on solution The Prime Minister assured the country that the government would not give up o…

-  Tuesday 19 September 2006, by PowerNell. The government of Zanzibar was shocked to hear that power rationing is expended to the island. So far, Zanzibar was excluded from the load shedding, which has previously led to complaints of the public. Zanzibar and Tanzania are officially united in one state, the United Republic of Tanzania, but Zanzibar has retained its own president, a full set of ministries and its own assembly. However, it gets its power from the mainland. The Zanzibar Minister of Water said in a statement: "The government has not received official information about our inclusion in the power-rationing schedule. We just read about it in the media. We only inform the publi…

-  Tuesday 19 September 2006, by PowerNell. Today the Garden Road area in Mikocheni (Dar es Salaam) had power almost all day, but it was switched off at 6 pm. The affected families are in total darkness tonight. The area had power the whole morning, until 1.45 pm when it was switched off. It was restored at 4.45 pm and went off again at 6 o"clock."NO warning, no press realease, no radio announcement," one of the affected says. "We are so fed up with it, but imagine the poor communities trying to run businesses to survive. For them it"s so unfair. Myself I would rather have power at night than in the day." This is the second time in two weeks that this Mikocheni area spends a night in th…

-  Tuesday 19 September 2006, by PowerNell. Yesterday The Citizen reported that another turbine at the Songas power plant failed. The Songas power plant, located in Ubungo in Dar es Salaam has six gas turbines. The Unit 6 turbine broke down at the end of August, and by that was responsible the five days off, two days on power rationing in Tanzania. Last Saturday the Unit 5 turbine experienced technical problems and was withdrew from operations. Spare parts are available though and it is expected that the problems will be solved within a couple of days (source: The Citizen). The capacity of the Unit 5 turbine is just under 35 MW. The capacity of the broken down Unit 6 turbine was 40 MW.S…

- Sunday 17 September 2006, by PowerNell. Tanesco (Tanzania Electric Supply Company) said in a statement yesterday: "The water level at Mtera dam has completely run down, the level as of Friday September 15, 2006 was 687.77 metres above sea level. There are only 77 centimetres remaining before the cut off level of 687.00 metres is reached. At that time power generation at Mtera will stop and shortly thereafter, the country's biggest hydropower at Kidatu will stop." (Sources: Daily News, The African). ... but should we worry? So there is 77 centimeters left. But how serious is 77 centimetres? It is serious, but is it hopeless? In July 2006 a similar situation occurred. On July 1 the…

- 16 September 2006, by PowerNell. This week Tanesco (Tanzania Electricity Supply Company) announced that the power rationing hours will be extended from five to seven days a week. From Monday on, electricity at daytime will be history. According to The East African "Tanzania runs the risk of being plunged into total darkness this week unless urgent measures to bring private-sector players onto the national power grid are taken". The Guardian reports, "industries and Zanzibar, hitherto unaffected by the loading schedule, would not be spared."Industries and Zanzibar also affected The Guardian cites a press statement issued by Tanesco managing director"s office: ""Industries that were hit…