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5th African Rift Geothermal Conference opening today

5th African Rift Geothermal Conference opening today Mbeya region, Tanzania, Africa (source: flickr/ Sara&Joachim, creative commons)
Francisco Rojas 29 Oct 2014

The Fifth African Rift Valley Geothermal Conference starts today in Arusha and aims to promote the big hopes of Tanzania to develop its vast geothermal potential, estimated at 650MW.

Tanzania has big hopes in expanding its efforts in renewable energy as a solution to fuel the demand for electricity and also do it in a cost effective and green manner.

Local news report that “Assistant Commissioner for Renewable Energy in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Mr Edward Ishengoma, revealed during the official opening of a two-day geothermal training that renewable energy was currently the last resort in the wake of ravages from global warming. The event was part of the Fifth African Rift Valley Geothermal Conference. The conference is expected to bring on board more than 400 experts in geothermal and renewable energy issues from different parts of the world.”

The country has vast potential geothermal power, and as also stated in the news piece “Tanzania has the longest rift stretch in eastern Africa, 52 identified sites with a geothermal potential of 650MW that have not been fully exploited. For many years, Tanzania relied much on hydropower as the main source of power, which proved a failure as most rivers fell prey to the impacts of climate change.”

At the moment, there are up to 50 geothermal prospects in the Tanzania.

To read the full news piece, please follow the link below:

Source: Tanzania Daily News