| dc.description |
Tanzania is endowed with energy resources mix estimated at: 1,200 tons of coal of which 304 million tons are proven; 29.02 billion m3 of proven natural gas; 4.7
GW of macro- hydro (561 MW developed); 314 MW of mini hydro potential of which only 1.5% is developed; 150 MW of Geothermal (completely unexploited); 12 million TOE of biomass potential excluding biofuel; and a solar insolation of approximately 4.5 kW/km2/day. Due to under deployment of these energy sources, the commercial energy consumption is skewed in favour of imported petroleum.
Petroleum importation consumes more than 30% of Tanzania’s foreign exchange earnings. The transport sector is the largest end user of imported petroleum fuels, consuming 40.5% of the total. Biofuel can have a direct use in the transport sector either in blended or in new generation flex technology. However, the advent of the biofuel has brought with it the debate on land issues, people’s welfare, food security and the environment. Thus, Tanzania needs to look into the biofuel business plantations prudently.
This project on the feasibility of large-scale biofuel production in Tanzania was conceived on June 28, 2007 through the efforts of the study team and the then Ambassador of Sweden to Tanzania, HE Torvald Åkesson. It was endorsed by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals and Sida, through the Swedish Embassy agreed to finance the study, which commenced in March 2008.
The study was undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of 16 Tanzanian experts from the University of Dar es Salaam, Sokoine University of Agriculture and Ardhi University covering various fields, namely; engineering, agriculture, law, economics, commerce, land-use planning, environment, ecology, forestry, livestock. |
|