JUMEME Rural Power Supply Limited’s (JUMEME) solar mini-grid project will provide electricity to than 100,000 people and 2,340 small businesses in Tanzania’s rural centres
This project has received preparation support from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and is co-financed by the European Union Energy Facility.
JUMEME was founded in 2014 with the aim of developing and implementing a large portfolio of solar-hybrid mini-grids in rural growth centres in Tanzania. It has an extensive pipeline of projects and the initial phase, scheduled to run until 2017, includes approximately 28 mini-grids with a strong focus on supplying to sectors such as the telecom industry, mines and small businesses.
Thadeus Mkamwa, one of the directors at Jumeme, has stated that the aim of the project is to implement 300 systems, which will serve approximately one million villagers across Tanzania by 2022.
The pilot project will be developed in Bwisya Village, Mwanza Region, where initially 250 customers will be connected to a hybrid power station consisting of a 60KW solar PV system, a 33kVA diesel generator, and a 240kWh battery bank.
“The mini-grid in Bwisya is the first of 30 systems to be installed by Jumeme over the next two years, supplying reliable electricity to around 100,000 people,” the company stated.
In the second half of this year, the system will also be extended in the second half of this year to connect other villages on the island and reach a total of 2,000 customers.
