| Abstract |
Tanzania is one of several countries that are favoured of being situated within the East African Rift system. It is thus endowed with an enormous geothermal potential which has not yet been taped, and has only been explored to a limited extent. Geothermal potential is estimated in previous studies to exceed 650MW. Geothermal power is a reliable, low-cost, environmental friendly, alternative energy supply and an indigenous, renewable energy source, suitable for electricity generation. The country has a total installation capacity of 1501 MW. This is from hydro, gas and thermal. Currently, the national power system is mostly relying on hydropower. A long period of drought which might have been due to the global warming as a result of climate change, between 2003 and 2006; 2009 and 2010; and little down pour to date, lead to shortfalls in electricity supply from the hydropower stations; thus, the government of Tanzania intends to diversify the country’s energy mix and is looking for sources of energy among which geothermal resource is at the upper rank. The country power generation potential consists of hydro power, gas, coal, wind energy, solar, geothermal and biomass. Most of the geothermal sites already identified with hot springs are located in areas transacted by the East African Rift System. Such areas include the northern volcanic province of Kilimanjaro, Meru and Ngorongoro and the Rungwe Volcanic province in southwest Tanzania. In addition, some coastal areas also show surface manifestations of geothermal resources. In Tanzania, several reconnaissance surveys and a few detailed studies of hot springs and geothermal sites have been carried out since 1949; some of these early studies in geothermal sites include measurements of surface temperature, water and gas flow as well as water and gas analyses of the hot springs. These studies on geothermal energy provide basic information on planning current geothermal projects. In 2006 and 2007, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM); in collaboration with the Geological Survey Tanzania (GST) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) of Germany carried out geological, geochemical and geophysical investigation to assess the geothermal prospects as well as to locate a hydrothermal system and potential geothermal reservoirs in Mbeya region, south-western of the country . The results from the electromagnetic surveys (TEM, MT) conducted, show zones of low resistivity in the Lake Ngozi area, which can possibly be correlated to alteration zones caused by geothermal activity and in turn indicate a potential geothermal reservoir (GEOTHERM., 2006). Further geophysical work was done near Lake Ngozi in 2010 as a continuation of GEOTHERM 2006.The results obtained is used for planning the drilling of temperature gradient wells or exploratory wells. In 2013 JICA did a reconnaissance survey in the country with the objective of the government of Tanzania in geothermal resources development. The report will be the base of a systematic approach for the resource development in the country. Furthermore the government is forming a com |