Iringa

Our small advance team is doing a preliminary investigation in the rural areas around Iringa, in central Tanzania.  For the possibility of doing a solar panel and related projects here.  

Tanzania is a big country in area.  Roughly the size of France and Italy added together.  Its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita is ~1/50 that of Hong Kong.  There are huge areas that are not covered by the electricity grid.  

The dirt roads into the villages look like the dirt roads in a safari.  Yet this is where many millions of people live. 

Even when the grid reaches an area, practically it means there is a power line along a main road.  Each household still has to pay for the cable, labour and other costs to connect to the power line.  For subsistence farmers who live 100 meters or more from the power line, the cost can be prohibitive.  Then there is the cost for the actual electricity that one uses.  Hence we often see houses with a power line nearby, but unconnected and still living in the dark.  Some would use kerosine, or candles. 

The size of the country and the spread of the population makes electrification a huge challenge. We visited 4 villages in Iringa and are overwhelmed by the huge size of the challenge.  There are hundreds and hundreds of household in these 4 villages alone.  And there a a lot more villages just in Iringa, …

We feel that we can perhaps make a small dent here.