The president of the United Republic of Tanzania Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete congratulates the Wind East Africa team on the progress made with the Singida 100MW Wind Project after receiving an update on November 4th 2011 at the Singida State House. Left to Right. Said Abdallah (Project Director), Simon Magesa [Project Coordinator-Singida] Rashid Shamte (Founder -Project Director), Mark Gammons (Project Director), Jayce Kaiser (Project coordinator) (Photo:/ State House)
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IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with Aldwych and Six Telecoms to develop a 100 MW wind farm in Singida, Tanzania, enhancing power supply reliability, decreasing the need for costly fuel imports, and helping fight climate change.
Being developed by Project Company Wind East Africa, the Singida project seeks to be the country’s first successful, independent wind energy power project. This project is a result of the government of Tanzania’s push for diverse energy sources, as drafted in its recent policy on renewable energy.
The total project cost for the wind farm is estimated at $285 million, of which IFC, Aldwych and Six Telecoms will contribute $18 million during the development stage and $71 million in total equity.
Located 700 kilometres from Dar es Salaam, the Singida wind farm will produce power through wind turbines to help diversify Tanzania’s electricity away from hydropower. When the hydropower supply drops during times of drought, Tanzania has had to turn to costly emergency power. Wind energy is an innovative way to boost power supply, with Singida expected to add 100 MW of capacity.
Singida will also provide power at more stable cost, as tariffs for wind energy remain relatively constant as no fuel source is required. The farm will be owned by Wind East Africa and operated by a management company led by Aldwych and Six Telecoms.
“IFC invested in Wind East Africa’s Singida farm to support a pioneering energy project that can serve as an example to the entire region,” said Oumar Seydi, IFC Director for East and Southern Africa. “With growing demand for electricity in Africa’s economies, independent power projects like Singida can add much-needed capacity to the power grid. Aldwych International and Six Telecoms’ participation demonstrates how the private sector can advance government efforts to increase energy security.”
Mark Gammons, Project Director for Aldwych, said, “Having been involved in the successful development of the Songas gas to electricity project, Aldwych’s senior management team has deep experience in and a strong belief in the Tanzanian market. We believe this ground-breaking project will help develop the Tanzanian power sector and also the local economy around Singida.”
Rashid Shamte, Founder and Head of Group Strategy at Six Telecoms, said, “As a Tanzanian company in telecoms, we were faced with the challenge of deciding how to best diversify our portfolio. The crippling power rationing in our country presented Six Telecoms with a great challenge in our operations, so this project was a compelling option.
He said Six Telecoms applauds the leadership of TANESCO and the government of Tanzania for initiating the wind measurement campaign in selected areas of the country, for making the wind data available to all interested parties, and for welcoming private sector participation in the energy sector. We are lucky to have experienced partners such as Aldwych and IFC leading our efforts in this project.”
In addition to the investment, IFC will assist in the overall project development. IFC will lend its experience and expertise to project structuring process and to ensure that the project meets the appropriate environmental and social standards.
IFC is making this investment through its InfraVentures division, which was created in 2008 to support innovative infrastructure projects. IFC InfraVentures addresses constraints to private investment in infrastructure, including the limited availability of funds and experienced professionals.
Increasing access to power is at the heart of IFC’s strategy for sub-Saharan Africa. IFC invested $1 billion in infrastructure projects in Africa in fiscal year 2012, up from $200 million five years ago.
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