Shining Light on the Effects of Renewable Energy in Tanzania

Renewable energy is a type of energy that is generated from natural resources that are constantly replenished -like sunlight, wind, rain or tides. It is especially useful in the quest to power Tanzania because the technology that is used to harness this energy often uses off-grid systems- meaning that they can generate electricity from anywhere their resources are available.

Solar panels and other solar technology is delocalized, meaning that they can be set up in any area and begin generating electricity to be used in that local area. It does not need to be connected to a large power plant or use a grid system to spread energy to different buildings. In most of the efforts to bring electricity to the distant areas of Tanzania, companies focus on the use of solar energy and providing solar technology to rural communities. With the extreme temperatures of Sub-Saharan Africa, it is common that there will be long periods of time that do not have rains or wind, mankind the use of rain power or wind power not completely reliable. For example, in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011, Tanzania along with the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a prolonged drought that had depleted the water reservoirs that generated the energy from hydropower plants, leading to severe power shortages and power rationing (Sarakikya, Ibrahim and Kiplagat, 2015). The experience from these severe droughts, is what drove Tanzania and other Sub-Saharan countries’ search for alternative renewable energy resources.

Therefore, it was concluded that sunlight is the best choice for alternative energy because it is a constant resource available to the people of this region and will meet energy needs at any geographical location.

Clean Water

A key component of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation is clean water. Along with irrigation systems for farms, pumps that bring water from the ground will also bring clean water to communities.

Many people in Tanzania rely on water found directly from local bodies of water, which can easily carry bacteria or be contaminated by outside forces. Another risk from relying on these bodies of water is that during the dry season in Africa there runs the risk of drought and losing access to water. With the use of energy, a pump can be built to extract water from the ground to provide constant access for a local community (Cloutier & Rowley, 2011). With saved income from an increased economy, residents can now buy water filters to ensure the water that is being consumed is clean and free of bacteria and other contaminants. The access to water allows for more frequent sanitation and an overall increase in cleanliness. By creating homes to be cleanlier and more sanitary, it reduces the risk of disease and infection to those living there. The access to water also allows better personal hygiene for the individual, furthermore contributing to their overall health.

Another issue that occurs often in Sub-Saharan Africa is the spread of disease from water sources. Giardia is a bacteria that lives in bodies of water that can be spread from ingestion of unsafe water and inadequate levels of cleanliness and sanitation. One of the main effects of giardia is extreme diarrhea, which can be extremely fatal without proper access to medical care to receive medication and without a reliable clean source of water. Therefore prevention is very important for these communities. Diarrhea is a major cause of death for children under the age of five (Squire, 2017). With the constant loss of water, an individual with giardia can very easily become dehydrated which can lead to death. Giardia can cause extreme weight loss and malabsorption which can cause stunting in growth and cognitive impairments in children still developing. With extreme risks of diseases such as giardia, it is very important to have clean living conditions and hygiene as well as having safe water. With electricity, these conditions are promoted and reduce the risk of endemics. 

Healthcare

In these rural communities, the residents do not have access to health care facilities nor do they have access to transportation to get there. Many citizens with health conditions like HIV or diabetes are unable to access treatment because local hospitals are located miles away and they do not have very reliable medical instruments for at home monitoring. With the introduction of electricity, they will be able to afford to have more reliable medical instruments and be able to monitor their own health better at home. With a stable income, individuals will be able to afford communication devices like cell phones that can also provide a mode of communication with medical health professionals that will advise individuals who cannot physically go to see a doctor but will receive some guidance when addressing a physical ailment (Thiam, 2017).

Additionally, the introduction of electricity will improve the overall health of these communities in general by increasing the overall cleanliness and hygiene of the citizens of that community. With access to clean water, hand washing and sanitation happens more frequently, reducing the risk to bacteria. Many homes in these communities are very simple and still have exposed dirt floors. With electricity, families will be able to afford to improve their houses and cement their floors, making residents less susceptible to bacteria and decrease the dirt inhalation that can damage one’s lungs or cause illness (Simpson et al., 2021). 

Education

Arguably the greatest benefit that providing electricity can have is its positive effect on the education system for Tanzanian citizens. Many of the people in these communities are unable to send their children to school for several reasons- they may be needed to help with the farm, schools are too far away or they are not able to afford the school fees. With a stabilised income and more efficient farming techniques, children have a better chance of being able to receive an education (Gray et. al, 2018). Homes that are now provided with electricity also allow students to study at home after the sunset, improving their education and preparing them for higher education. With a strong educational background, students can continue to higher education where they can specialise in different fields that will develop the country and branch out from Tanzania’s primary income, agriculture. With Tanzania’s constantly growing population, it is imperative for the development of the country that the younger generations are being educated and are getting jobs to promote the economic and infrastructure growth of the nation. By promoting the education of young people, it ensures that the future generations of Tanzania will be able to develop and progress socioeconomically, politically and technologically, hopefully modernising the country as a whole (Gray et al., 2018).

Setbacks & Solutions

With all movements, there are always setbacks and obstacles that prevent progress from moving forward. In the movement for electrification across Tanzania, some of the main problems that are being faced are lack of funding, foreign policies, and potential environmental harm from e-waste.

Financial Investors

In order to provide electricity to rural Tanzania, there comes the issue of funding and finding financial investors to aid these movements. The solar technology that is the hex of this movement are not sourced in the country, but rather need to be imported from various other countries which can be very expensive. Many potential investors fail to see economic success in this type of project and do not feel secure in investing because of Tanzania’s outdated banking system (Gregory & Sovacool, 2019). Because Tanzania is very behind in terms of technology and infrastructure compared to the modern world, their banking system is also not modernised and outdated. With the lack of electricity, many citizens of the country do not have access to online banking making the payments for these technologies less reliable and more troublesome. Additionally, the lack of online paying systems means that there is no reliable way for pay-as-you-go systems . The payments would have to be all at once, which can be costly and not feasible for some individuals. With the lack of modern banking systems, investors do not feel as if this would be a sound investment.

The best way to combat this issue would be to first update Tanzania’s banking systems. Without a sound financial system, investors would not be able to ensure that they made a sound investment or that they will see their money back. However, although this is very important, this is a difficult obstacle to overcome because updating the banking system also relies on electricity access to the residents of the given area (Gregory and Sovacool, 2019). Modernising the banking system may also take years to accomplish, and with the ever-developing western world, will make Tanzania even more behind. Another solution would be to provide investors more incentives to invest in solar technology for rural Tanzania. 

Foreign Policy

Another setback that the electrification movement is facing is foreign policies placed by the government that are hindering importation of parts for solar technology. Policies, or lack of, are  prohibiting the trade between major source countries like China that provide many of the parts used for the solar panels, making it difficult to provide them for rural Tanzania. Integration of PV solar systems and mini grids are being blocked due to the lack of transparent and distinguished policies that set up a regulatory framework for technology development (Come Zebra et al., 2021).  Additionally, many foreign countries like the United States, United Kingdom and China keep Tanzania out of the major trading in order to monopolise their own market, making the country unable to economically succeed in the agricultural industry. This prohibits income that could be used and put towards movements to bring electricity to all parts of Tanzania. 

E-Waste

Another reason why investors may feel unsure about investing is because of the long term implications for the environment. With an increase of solar technology, there will also cause an increase in e-waste that can be hazardous to the environment without proper disposal. A large concern that is growing in Tanzania is trash disposal and its complications because of the increasing use of electronic waste. E-waste includes everything from computer monitors to television sets, cell phones, etc. A contributor that is slowly adding to this problem are solar panels. Global initiatives are promoting the spread of solar panels in Tanzania to help electrify the rural areas and bring electricity to the residents in that area. Like any piece of technology that is constantly exposed to the elements, solar panels are bound to either become out-dated or break from external forces, causing them to be discarded and contributing to the accumulation of e-waste (Yee, 2019). Additionally, many solar energy products rely on lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries for operation. These batteries do not last very long- only about 8-10 years, and without a proper way to dispose of them, the risk of the leaking into the environment and harming the residents in the area increases. 

Although bringing electricity to the rural areas of Tanzania is an important movement for the residents of the country, it must be taken into consideration the long term negative effects on the environment- despite being a renewable energy source. In the past few years, the formal garbage collection in the urban parts of Tanzania has improved but not enough to the extent to properly dispose of e-waste. Many times, the e-waste is just stored in warehouses or scavenged for recyclables and inevitably dumped. The waste management companies in the area do not have any training for employees to deal with hazardous materials and many regions lack the facilities and equipment to properly dispose of the waste in general. 

With the growing solar industry boom in Tanzania and several initiatives to bring power to the rural areas, the problem with disposing of hazardous material is only increasing. The United States’s Power Africa Initiative plans to bring about 25 million to 30 million new solar connections across Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. As the industry begins to boom, it is imperative that proper disposal of components can be achieved. If expired lead acid batteries leak into the ground it can contaminate the soil and get into the water that communities rely on for survival. This poses a very large threat on the general health of the residents, especially those in rural areas that do not have reliable access to health professionals and must rely on these possibly poisoned bodies of water for survival. 

To combat this growing concern, the US and the UK have pledged $1 million in grants to companies addressing solar e-waste in sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of proper ways of disposing e-waste has also become a great concern for investors of solar energy initiatives. However, just as this incentive is coming as a result of the solar energy boom in Tanzania, it is also proving to be a turn-off for possible investors. Without proper waste management, many companies see the continuation of these initiatives as a risk that can cause more harm than good long-term. As the movement to bring power to the rural areas of Tanzania continues, the environmental and health risks of solar panel technology must be taken into account.

In a TED talk by Rose Mutiso, a Kenyan energy researcher that works with a global network in finding solutions for energy deficits in Africa, she discusses the use of renewable energy sources in bringing electricity to homes across Africa. She addresses SDG7 and discusses how even in reaching this goal, it would not be enough to bring Africa out of energy poverty. Bringing lightbulbs and fans to each home in Africa is a great start, but as Mutiso says it is “romanticising solutions that distract us from the core challenges”. To begin to end energy poverty, an ample amount of reliable and affordable electricity must be delivered to power income growth and power economy-wide job creation (Mutiso, 2019). It must be provided to industries that will build the infrastructure of the country, to the developing cities full of young people with potential search for jobs, to more than just housing. Although bringing off-grid electricity to homes in Africa is a great place to start, by itself, it is by no means able to rid Tanzania of its energy poverty crisis.  By definition of SDG7, the government is focused on bringing energy to the homes of every citizen in the world, but for countries like Tanzania to develop, there must also be a focus on the industrial and commercial sectors of energy consumption. 

As seen in the figure to the left, there is a positive correlation between electricity consumption and income per capita - there is no such thing as a low-energy, high income country. In order for a nation to grow economically to accommodate its growing population, a strong infrastructure must be developed to promote job creation and modern societal advancement.  With Africa’s opportunity to build their energy systems almost from scratch, it is a great opportunity to build using renewable resources. However, even in the modern world with its developments of solar panels and electric cars, these advancements to promote renewable energy were built with a strong centralised power source generated by fossil fuels (Mutiso, 2019). Therefore, in efforts to curb climate change, it is imperative that renewable energy efficiency is increased and that researchers find a way to be able to produce ample and reliable renewable electricity that these nations can use at the crux of its energy consumption to create a sustainable way to develop their nation. 

In the past 250 years, the world has significantly depleted earth’s resources that took 3.5 billion years to create. At the rate of consumption for energy today, it will not take another 250 years for all fossil fuel resources to be completely gone (Kurtz & Fustes, 2012). That is why, even though it is not fair to limit developing countries from utilising fossil fuel resources, it is imperative that Tanzania and other sub-Saharan African countries find reliable and ample renewable resources to base their energy systems in order to outlast the world’s disappearing fossil fuels.  That being said, as important as it is to curb climate change and lessen global warming “the world cannot expect Africa to remain in energy poverty because of climate change” (Mutiso, 2019).  A balance must be found between both struggles.