Australian firm gets nod for 300MW wind farm

What you need to know:

The wind farm is expected to operate for at least 25 years and generate power to supply nearly one million average Tanzanian homes.


Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is set for a wind farm, which has a capacity to produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity, after issuance of an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Certificate for the project.

The certificate allows the project developer - Windlab Developments Tanzania Ltd – to construct the Miombo Hewani Wind Farm and Transmission line project, located 10km north of Makambako, in Njombe Region.

Windlab Developments Tanzania Ltd is a subsidiary of Windlab Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:WND).

The ESIA certificate which was signed on May 30, 2018 is the first to be issued in the country for a wind farm project.

Miombo Hewani will be built in phases with the first one expected to be around 100MW and include up to 34 wind turbines as well as electrical infrastructure connecting the wind farm to national electricity grid at the Makambako substations, the company said in a statement issued yesterday.

The first phase alone will bring up to $300 million of investment to the country, the firm stated.

“We are very pleased to receive the first ESIA for a wind farm in Tanzania. In developing Miombo Hewani, Windlab has applied the industry’s best practices and experience from developing more than 50 wind energy projects across North America, Australia and Southern Africa,” said Windlab Limited CEO Roger Price.

“Miombo Hewani enjoys an excellent wind resource that is one of the best on the continent and the world. The wind resource pattern is biased towards night time generation and during the dry season in Tanzania, making it ideal for Tanzania’s current electricity generation mix,” he added.

The wind farm is expected to operate for at least 25 years and generate power to supply nearly one million average Tanzanian homes.

Windlab secured an Energy and Environment Partnership grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland to fund the project investment.

The company says it will continue working closely with the Ministry of Energy, Tanesco and the Tanzanian Investment Bank to ensure that the project is successfully built to benefit the local farmers, community and the nation as a whole.