High hopes for solar power in TZ

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s geographical location near the equator offers a unique opportunity for a vibrant solar energy market.

As a result, the country receives good solar panel insolation all the year round estimated at 200Wp/m2.

Acceptance of solar photovoltaics (PV) technology by rural and sub-urban off-grid communities has been high, as reflected in annual sales of PV components that grew from 100kW in 2005 to 4mW in 2014.

This is due to the fact that solar energy is a source of user-friendly electricity.

Hence, some households have adopted the technology followed by primary and secondary schools, health facilities and other institutions.

Irregular power outages facing rural Tanzanians, especially in Mtwara and Lindi regions, have made residents of these regions to adopt solar PV technology due to absence of grid electricity.

Furthermore, the growth of the local market has resulted in high inflows of PV products in the country as confirmed by a study conducted by Tanzania Renewable Association (Tarea) and the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) in 2015.

However, this has resulted in many substandard products finding their way into the market with negative consequences for consumers.

The inflow of substandard solar products is aggravated by lack of trained technicians, who can correctly install solar panels and distinguish between genuine and counterfeit solar products in the market.

According to a 2015 study, most of the retail shops surveyed contained substandard solar products that did not perform according to specifications written on their data plates.

While Tanzanian universities produce highly qualified engineers, in most cases they are not involved in importing and installing a PV system, especially in rural areas. The de-facto installers at the same time often lack training to install a reliable solar system.

Lack of initial consultation and not meeting customer needs adds to their frustration, when their solar panels do not operate as expected.

To make users of solar panels not frustrated and discouraged, Tarea sought assistance from the Climate and Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) through the National Designated Entity (NDE), the Commission for Science and Technology (Costech) to address the situation.

The CTCN and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) commissioned the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US to tailor and test training for tackling challenges by plugging the critical gap in the country’s education system.

A pilot training workshop was held on November 5-10, this year, at Morogoro Vocational Teachers Training College (MVTTC) involving 29 trainees, 19 of them being women.

Feedback and the results of the pilot training workshop will be used for developing recommendations, an accreditation programme for Vocational Educational and Training Authority’s consideration and training programme for PV technicians, installers as well as retailers and regional energy officers to improve their ability to address challenges facing the energy sector.

Energy resource expert from the Open University in Dar es Salaam George Michael, one of the trainees said the knowledge he had gained during training would help him improve his ability to deal with solar technology challenges.

Unido national programme officer Gerard Runyoro said the government had invested more in other energy resources such as hydropower resources (12 per cent exploited), natural gas, amongst others.

He said this, when speaking with reporters at a press conference held at Unido offices in the city on Thursday.

“Rural areas have more readily adopted solar PV technology due to absence of grid electricity. The government’s sustainable development goal to connect all people by 2030 can be backed up by massive investment in solar PV technology,” he said.

“There is also an acute shortage of solar technology personnel. I urge the Vocational Educational and Training Authority (Veta) to start offering solar technology programmes to generate reliable solar experts,” he added.

Tarea deputy executive secretary Emma Laswai, for her part, said the existence of counterfeit solar products in the marketplace was a key challenge facing solar energy in the country.

“According to a 2015 study, most of the retail shops surveyed contained products that were of sub-standard quality and did not perform according to specifications written on their data plates,” she said.

She called upon the TBS to continue conducting impromptu inspection to seize all sub-standard solar products sold in retail shops.

Unido national project coordinator Victor Akim noted that the solar technology was not well utilised countrywide, citing that the shortage of solar personnel and solar equipment were key challenges facing the sector.

He further called for construction of a solar equipment manufacture factory, saying the move would enable the majority of Tanzanians to purchase the equipment at cheaper prices compared to imported solar products.

“I urge the government to construct a factory that will be capable of manufacturing solar products. Current equipment is imported from China and Germany. Most of them are not genuine,” he said.

As part of additional capacity building support to Tarea, a list of assorted solar PV components has been donated by partnership formed between NREL, CTCN and Unido to enable Tarea to continue providing solar PV training sessions to other participants involved in the energy sector.