Rukwa Region is located in the remote South-Western extreme of Tanzania between Lakes Tanganyika and Rukwa. It occupies an area of 75,240sq.km. Sumbawanga is one of the four districts of the Rukwa Region, with geographical coverage area of 13,586 m2, which covers almost 17% of the total area of the region. The district has 169 villages.
In a period of two weeks, from 27 November to 16 December 2009, number of TaTEDO’s project activities has been implemented in Sumbawanga District. One of the activities was installation of Multifunctional Platform/ Energy Service Platform (ESP) at Laela Village, located at Laela ward in Sumbawanga District Council. The installed ESP is the combination of Chinese diesel engine Fiadong type with 26HP, alternator 20Kw, milling machine and a battery charger (booster) machine. This is a continuation of series of installation of ESPs for better energy access and rural electrification systems in Arumeru, Monduli and Kinondoni Districts, respectively.
Villagers admiring the installed ESP at Laela, Rukwa
Laela is the village along Tunduma- Sumbawanga main road. It is a centre of a number of households and business enterprises; among the enterprises are beauty saloon, barbershops, video show centres, restaurants, retails shops and welding workshops. All these enterprises need better energy services for them to develop and create profit. Since the village is not connected to the national electric grid all enterprises and some households use generators as source electricity for lights and other economic activities. Candles, car batteries or wicked lamps are also used as alternative source of light. These services are obtained at the village or nearby towns of Tunduma and Sumbawanga but at a very high cost. Currently, a litre of kerosene is sold at Tshs. 1,050 at Laela. Villagers have always travelled up to 95km to charge batteries at a cost of Tshs 5000/. According to the people in the village, charging services are not consistent due to power ration at Sumbawanga and the most of charging machines used are locally made.
Installation of this ESP is a result of major efforts made by TaTEDO, District Sustainable Energy Development Cluster and Village Energy Team in finding tangible and stable solutions for energy problems at Laela. Need for accessing better energy services coupled to opportunities faced by entrepreneurs at the village led to formation of a group named Juhudi Electrical Dealers. The enterprise group members are Mr. Alfred Msumeno, Mohamed Mohamoud, Fred and Abel Kauzeni.
This group of entrepreneurs requested technical assistance to TaTEDO on how best they can help their community to deal with energy problems; among them is battery charging services and mini-grid establishment. Their request was accepted and installation activities started by designing and sizing the system depending on the demand from the entrepreneurs themselves.
During ESP installation, TaTEDO team led by Mr. Shukuru Meena and Tegemea Enock worked hand in hand with the village energy team and DISEDC to ensure that all managerial, legal and social matters related to investment and installation of the rural electrification system at Laela village are straightforwardly pursued. Entrepreneurs had also appointed an operator who was also keen in learning as part of capacity building for the sustainability of the system in the future.
The majority of villagers thought that it would be good to establish a small mini-grid at the centre but due to limited funds it was not possible; an alternative source of electricity using batteries was provided to the households. About ten households were connected to this type of electrify. Each house was connected with 2 bulbs of 7W each, 1 switch socket for radio and charging phone and one battery of 70Ah. All connected customers were also provided with after-sell services on how to operate the system, undertake minor maintenances and right appliances for the system. The scheme was prepared for 10 battery customers only but due to awareness raised at the village more than 15 customers were interested in that type of simple but very efficient mode of isolated rural electrification scheme.
Proper management structure is the key and vital factor for the sustainability of the scheme. This scheme will be under a close supervision of electric board at the village level. A meeting with entrepreneurs, electric users, and village energy team and village government representatives was organized by TaTEDO staff with assistance of Sumbawanga DiSEDC member, Mr. B. Mwakitalima. In the meeting, the clear management structure of the scheme and the roles of the board were elaborated and electric board was formulated. The board has five members of which each member is a representative of a key group in the village and district such as entrepreneurs, users, DiSEDC, village energy team and village government. Among the main responsibilities of the board is to ensure sustainability of this rural electrification initiatives at Laela.