By our reporter
Four large transformers are being transported from Tanzania's Dar es Salaam port to substations serving the 400-kilovolt TAZA power transmission project, as state utility TANESCO accelerates work to meet a Nov. 15 completion target.
The Iringa-Kisada-Mbeya-Tunduma-Sumbawanga transmission project is intended to connect the southwestern Rukwa region to Tanzania's national grid and eventually facilitate electricity trade between Tanzania and Zambia.
Two transport teams have begun moving the transformers from the port to project sites. One team is heading to the Iganjo substation in Mbeya and Mkangamo substation in Songwe, while two other transformers have already reached Iringa.
TAZA project manager Kelvin Mwasege said the transportation was part of an order by TANESCO Managing Director Lazaro Twange to ensure the project is ready to energise the transmission line from Tagamenda substation in Iringa towards Sumbawanga by Nov. 15.
“This exercise is implementing the instructions of TANESCO's director general to ensure that by Nov. 15 we energise our transmission line from Tagamenda substation in Iringa towards Sumbawanga,” Mwasege said.
TAZA project engineer Esau Magori, who is accompanying the second transport team, said one of the transformers, rated at 250 MVA, would be installed at the Iringa substation, while a 200 MVA transformer would be installed at Kisada.
The project is expected to bring Rukwa into the national electricity grid and strengthen Tanzania's transmission network in the southwest.
Magori said the project would also provide the infrastructure needed to connect Tanzania's electricity system with Zambia's, opening the way for cross-border electricity trading.
“The importance of this project is that it will connect Rukwa Region to the national grid and, more importantly, connect Tanzania and Zambia for electricity trading,” he said.
Twange set the Nov. 15 deadline after meeting contractors and project supervisors in Iringa and instructed them to accelerate work to ensure the project is completed within the revised schedule.
The TAZA project is part of Tanzania's wider investment in high-voltage transmission infrastructure aimed at improving electricity reliability, expanding grid capacity and supporting regional power interconnection.