Tanzania-Zambia Transmission Interconnector

active

The development objective of the Transmission Interconnector Project for Tanzania is to (i) increase power transmission capacity to southern regions of Tanzania and (ii) strengthen institutional capacity in Tanzania and of the Eastern Africa Power Pool for regional power trade. This project has four component. First component, transmission infrastructure extension includes construction of approximately 620 km of 400 kV double circuit transmission lines, starting in Iringa through Kisada and Mbeya to Tunduma and continuing from Tunduma to Sumbawanga to link the Tanzanian North-West Grid to the interconnector with Zambia. This component cover the electrical and civil works, switchgear, control-protection-communication, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and auxiliary system equipment along the entire transmission route and in all substations, including required spares for transmission lines and substations. Second component, Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) transmission system readiness for interconnection and corporate commercial management improvements includes (i) a technical assessment of TANESCO’s transmission system to identify the operational, planning, and technical gaps in meeting the requirements for operational integration in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) and the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) to comply with the requirements for power system stability, operational ancillary enabling services, frequency synchronization, tie-line control, protection, metering, and other technical standards, and (ii) procurement and installation of necessary additional equipment and reinforcements of the generation/transmission system infrastructure to ensure that the Tanzanian grid meets all operating requirements of the interconnected networks, can synchronize with the EAPP and SAPP systems, and can engage reliably and efficiently in power trade with Zambia and Kenya and in the SAPP and EAPP markets. This component will support the integration of business systems as part of the Corporate Management System. Third component, project implementation support and capacity building will support supervision and management of Component 1 by an owner’s engineer and build TANESCO’s technical, operational, and market trading capacity to participate in regional power trade. Fourth component, technical assistance to EAPP will provide institutional strengthening and capacity building to the EAPP to establish market operating rules and platforms and set up technical requirements for operation of the EAPP member utilities (including TANESCO) in a synchronized fashion. This component financing will cover (a) institutional strengthening and capacity building to EAPP to ensure synchronized operation of grids in the power pool and for Project management; (b) support for the operationalization of centralized short-term markets to complement long-term bilateral contracts; (c) strengthening EAPP’s Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) and capacity building and knowledge sharing among the region’s regulatory boards, and (d) the establishment of a regional technical assistance facility for feasibility studies and capacity building and knowledge sharing between the region’s utilities.