Energy firm touts team work to solve power woes

Dar es Salaam. An energy sector stakeholder has emphasised the need to strengthen collaboration among key players in clean energy production, describing it as a vital measure to tackle Tanzania’s persistent power outages.

These outages not only disrupt industrial production but also impede the nation’s economic growth.

Clarke Energy, a distributor of gas-powered engines, emphasised the importance of reliable energy distribution to support industrial efficiency.

Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting on Friday, the company’s deputy general manager, Mr Tarak Jani, said the outages limit industries’ capacity to produce affordable goods, negatively impacting the economy.

“Tanzania’s challenge is not power generation, but reliable distribution,” said Mr Jani.

He added that collaborative efforts between the government and stakeholders are essential to finding lasting solutions.

Tanzania is endowed with substantial natural gas reserves, estimated at57.54 trillion cubic feet. Of this 10.12 trillion cubic feet are located onshore.

Clarke Energy, which specialises in the installation and maintenance of gas engines for distributed power generation, has been instrumental in promoting cleaner energy solutions.

“In collaboration with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), we provide power plants that utilise natural gas, offering industries cleaner and more sustainable energy options,” said Mr Jani.

The company’s general manager, Mr Emile Hamman, highlighted the company’s commitment to strengthening Tanzania’s energy sector through partnerships with industries, independent power producers (IPPs), and government agencies.

Testimony provided by one of the company's customer representatives, also present, commended the efforts of the Clarke Energy team in delivering its 5 megawatt (MW) power plant, which included the front-end engineering designs (FEED), installation, commissioning, and currently provide maintenance for the plant.

"Despite our assurance that there was no chance of success, they never abandoned Lodhia. They pursued further studies and seemed keen on providing us with a solution. They even went as far as installing analysing machines to determine our load demand and behaviour, including assessing our load harmonics, peak and offpeak demands and other factors.

After monitoring for a week, we held a discussion, and ultimately, they presented a feasible solution," said the Group CEO at Lodhia Industries Limited, Manoj Gopi.