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Geothermal Power Tanzania founded to explore and develop projects in Tanzania

Geothermal Power Tanzania founded to explore and develop projects in Tanzania Lake Ngozi, Tanzania (source: flickr/ Sara&Joachim, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 17 May 2012

Geothermal Power Tanzania Ltd (GPT) has been founded to explore and develop the geothermal resources of Tanzania with the partners Geothermal Power Ltd, the Tanzania National Development Corp. and Tanzanian mining company Interstate Mining & Minerals. German GeoThermal Engineering is the geothermal expert for the venture.

Geothermal power is one of the solutions to solve the Tanzanian energy demand, today and in the future. Geothermal power is renewable, environment friendly and offers base load electricity. Tanzania is a part of the East African rift valley stretching from north to south with many features like volcanoes and hot springs. Consequently it has high potential for electricity production.

Geothermal Power Tanzania Ltd (GPT) has been founded to explore and develop the geothermal resources of Tanzania.

Partners in GPT are “Geothermal Power Ltd” (GPL) based in Mauritius, the Tanzanian “National Development Corporation” (NDC) and the Tanzanian mining company “Interstate Mining & Minerals Ltd” (Interstate).

Geothermal expert for the venture in Tanzania is GeoThermal Engineering GmbH from Germany.

GPT has been granted prospecting licenses for geothermal exploration in the Mbeya area and Rufiji. GPT will explore the area with the aim to develop a series of power stations up to 10 MW each along the Mbaka and Livingstone faults. The geothermal resource is expected to have a temperature of around 160°C. These power plants will have a great impact on the regional development by providing clean electricity to rural areas. The main target will be the geothermal reservoir at the Ngozi volcano which can be expected to produce about 100MW of electricity.

The GPT development team consists of leading experts in geothermal work.  The company is currently investing $5 million in geotechnical, geological and drilling work to establish target areas. Negotiation for contracting a dedicated geothermal drilling rig with a capacity to drill to a depth of 2.5 km is close to be finalized. It is expected that the drilling will commence at the end of 2012.

With continuous drilling, the wells will be converted to production and injection wells. For that purpose well head generators will be used with a capacity of up to 3.5 MW.  The target is to start initial electricity production in early 2014.

All the activities of GPT in the Mbeya area are part of an overall energy development plan including conventional geothermal installations capable of producing approximately 100 MW of electricity. Together with other electricity generating projects planned for the region, the geothermal investment in Mbeya will highlight Tanzania’s involvement in sustainable power generation, aiming at overcoming the ongoing shortage of electricity generation.

Source: Release by Geothermal Power Tanzania