{"id":43502,"date":"2026-08-22T16:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43502"},"modified":"2026-08-22T16:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:05:29","slug":"tanzania-commissions-countrys-largest-hydropower-plant","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/tanzania-commissions-countrys-largest-hydropower-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Tanzania commissions country&#8217;s largest hydropower plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Tanzania commissioned a new\u00a0<span class=\"x_spanWithBackgroundColor\">2 115<\/span>-megawatt hydropower plant on Saturday, more than doubling the East African nation&#8217;s electricity generation capacity and \u200bcreating a surplus that officials say could support power exports and \u200cindustrial growth.<\/div>\n<div>\nThe Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP), Tanzania&#8217;s biggest power plant, was built on the Rufiji River at a cost of about 7.45 trillion Tanzanian S<span class=\"x_spanWithBackgroundColor\">hillings<\/span>\u00a0($2.84 billion).<\/div>\n<div>President Samia Suluhu \u200bHassan, who inaugurated the plant, said it had helped eliminate a \u200bpower generation shortfall that in the past has led to \u2060frequent and economically crippling blackouts.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are confident that this project will increase \u200bopportunities for business, investment, and production, create jobs, and boost individual income and \u200bthe national GDP as a whole,&#8221; she said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The project lifts the country&#8217;s total power generation capacity to 4,646 MW against peak demand of 2 271 MW, leaving a surplus of \u200b2 375 MW for exports, Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He added that Tanzania \u200bwas already in discussions to export electricity to several countries, including Kenya and Zambia.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Construction of \u200cthe \u2060plant began in 2019 but faced criticism from conservation groups, which argued that building a dam on a river running through the Selous Game Reserve could affect wildlife and habitats downstream.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The reserve is among the largest protected areas \u200bin Africa, home \u200bto one of \u2060its most significant concentrations of animals including elephant, black rhino and cheetah and a large variety of habitats, according \u200bto United Nations agency UNESCO.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Hassan acknowledged the project&#8217;s controversial \u200bhistory, but \u2060said Tanzania had overcome opposition during its development.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We had no way to abandon this project, given its importance to our nation,&#8221; she said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>With the plant&#8217;s entry \u2060into operation, \u200bhydropower now accounts for around 60% of \u200bTanzania&#8217;s power generation, with a significant portion also generated from natural gas.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":39868,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-43502","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Construction of \u200cthe \u2060plant began in 2019 but faced criticism from conservation groups.","published_date":"","news_description":"Construction of \u200cthe \u2060plant began in 2019 but faced criticism from conservation groups.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43503,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43502\/revisions\/43503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}