The Citizen correspondentDar es Salaam.The national power utility company yesterday allayed fears of a protracted load shedding, saying the countrywide power blackout on Monday was caused by a sudden disruption in gas supply to electricity generation turbines in the city from the Songo Songo wells in Lindi Region.
A technical fault at the Pan African Energy (PAE) production site in Kilwa District stopped gas supply to the city, and led to a temporary shutdown of some gas-fired turbines, Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) officials said yesterday.
Installed
capacity in the country stands at 1,375.74 megawatts (MW), while the
actual power production is 720MW. Half of it is generated from
thermal-powered turbines.
“Full gas supply resumed by 7pm but we later experienced a major breakdown in the national grid which was repaired before dawn and electricity supply resumed,” Ms Badra Masoud, Tanesco’s Public Relations officer told The Citizen yesterday. She added: “Since our reliance on gaseous and non-hydroelectricity power generation sources amounts to 50 per cent, that disruption, apparently impacted people’s social and economic activities, something the company would like to apologize for.”
“Full gas supply resumed by 7pm but we later experienced a major breakdown in the national grid which was repaired before dawn and electricity supply resumed,” Ms Badra Masoud, Tanesco’s Public Relations officer told The Citizen yesterday. She added: “Since our reliance on gaseous and non-hydroelectricity power generation sources amounts to 50 per cent, that disruption, apparently impacted people’s social and economic activities, something the company would like to apologize for.”
The government wants to shift from
its reliance on hydro-electricity to thermal production, mainly powered
by natural gas, which is found abundantly in the southern parts of the
country. According to estimates, Tanzania has more than 30 trillion
cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.
While gas production is going on in two sites in Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay, intensive exploration is also continuing in other areas in the south and the government has initiated the construction of a $1.225-billion, 532-kilometre gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, which will be a major boost to power production.
Ms Masoud said yesterday that the gas supply disruptions caused a 50 per cent reduction in the production of electricity through gas-depended plants.
According to Tanesco, PAE technicians contained the situation late that evening after a day of working tirelessly. A few hours later, in the evening, the national grid broke down.
“Technicians from Tanesco successfully fixed that problem and power supply resumed,” she said.
The incident occurred a week after reassurances from the minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, during Parliament sessions in Dodoma. During the House sessions he reassured wananchi that there would be no power cuts or shedding any more.
Ms Masoud echoed Prof Muhongo’s words and refuted claims that the company lacked the commitment to serve public interests. She said Tanesco would not tolerate controllable losses and further tarnish its image in the face of the public, noting that technical problems were however unavoidable.
“In the public’s eye, Tanesco already has a bad image. We always work hard to avoid further ruin of the company’s image… the problem was caused by mere technical failures which, like sickness, once they happened they could not be avoided,” she clarified.
An official from PAE who preferred anonymity because he is not the spokesperson of the firm told The Citizen that the gas supply system experienced some technical problems after detecting the presence of abnormal circumstances, something that forced it to close the gas wells automatically.
The official said immediate information was availed to Tanesco to stop power production for gas-fired turbines.
“The problem is already fixed and power production activities have resumed. There is no need for panic,” the official reassured.
Songas, one of the country’s main power production companies that uses natural gas also said production in their plants has resumed.“We are currently generating 180MW (our full output). All our machines are running,” Songas managing director Chris Ford told The Citizen in an email communication.
He added: “Although this doesn’t happen very often, it is not unusual. The gas plant was designed to expect such events and because currently it operates at full output all of the time, technical problems will result to less gas supplies.”
While gas production is going on in two sites in Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay, intensive exploration is also continuing in other areas in the south and the government has initiated the construction of a $1.225-billion, 532-kilometre gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, which will be a major boost to power production.
Ms Masoud said yesterday that the gas supply disruptions caused a 50 per cent reduction in the production of electricity through gas-depended plants.
According to Tanesco, PAE technicians contained the situation late that evening after a day of working tirelessly. A few hours later, in the evening, the national grid broke down.
“Technicians from Tanesco successfully fixed that problem and power supply resumed,” she said.
The incident occurred a week after reassurances from the minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, during Parliament sessions in Dodoma. During the House sessions he reassured wananchi that there would be no power cuts or shedding any more.
Ms Masoud echoed Prof Muhongo’s words and refuted claims that the company lacked the commitment to serve public interests. She said Tanesco would not tolerate controllable losses and further tarnish its image in the face of the public, noting that technical problems were however unavoidable.
“In the public’s eye, Tanesco already has a bad image. We always work hard to avoid further ruin of the company’s image… the problem was caused by mere technical failures which, like sickness, once they happened they could not be avoided,” she clarified.
An official from PAE who preferred anonymity because he is not the spokesperson of the firm told The Citizen that the gas supply system experienced some technical problems after detecting the presence of abnormal circumstances, something that forced it to close the gas wells automatically.
The official said immediate information was availed to Tanesco to stop power production for gas-fired turbines.
“The problem is already fixed and power production activities have resumed. There is no need for panic,” the official reassured.
Songas, one of the country’s main power production companies that uses natural gas also said production in their plants has resumed.“We are currently generating 180MW (our full output). All our machines are running,” Songas managing director Chris Ford told The Citizen in an email communication.
He added: “Although this doesn’t happen very often, it is not unusual. The gas plant was designed to expect such events and because currently it operates at full output all of the time, technical problems will result to less gas supplies.”
PAE
distributes gas through a network that consists of 50 kilometres of low
pressure pipeline, three pressure reduction stations and two separate
connections to the 16 high pressure pipeline.
Additional reporting by Mkinga Mkinga
Additional reporting by Mkinga Mkinga
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