KEY POINTS
- Tanzania’s electricity demand is growing at 10 to 15 percent annually, driven by population growth and industrial expansion.
- Installed generation capacity has reached 4,383 megawatts as of early 2026, against a peak demand of roughly 2,100 megawatts.
- Tanzania is targeting 100 percent electricity access by 2030, with renewable energy central to its long-term energy mix.
Tanzania’s power sector is under mounting pressure. Electricity demand is growing at 10 to 15 percent per year, one of the fastest rates on the continent, and the government knows that today’s surplus will not last long.
Deputy Minister for Energy Salome Makamba made the case plainly at the Powering Africa Summit in Washington in March. She said Tanzania’s installed generation capacity had reached 4,383 megawatts by early 2026, with peak demand sitting at around 2,100 megawatts. That gap looks comfortable on paper. In practice, large industries, mining operations and major infrastructure projects consume power at a scale that requires sustained headroom.
“The increasing demand reflects the country’s growing economy and the need to expand investments in the energy sector,” Makamba said.
Building ahead of demand
The Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project has been central to the capacity push, adding 2,115 megawatts to Tanzania’s grid and significantly reshaping its generation mix. Before the project, installed capacity stood at roughly 1,900 megawatts. That single infrastructure investment changed the national energy picture.
Transmission and distribution are the next priority. Power infrastructure now reaches all villages on mainland Tanzania. The focus has shifted from access to reliability. Grid outages remain a real constraint, especially in industrial zones where consistent supply is not a courtesy but a production requirement.
Tanzania is investing in smart grid technology, cross-border interconnections with Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Zambia, and the modernization of distribution networks to reduce losses and improve response times.
Diversifying the energy mix
Natural gas currently carries the largest share of Tanzania’s generation. The government is working to change that balance. Solar, wind and geothermal resources are being developed alongside hydropower to create a more resilient and climate-stable power system.
Tanzania aims to achieve 100 percent electricity access by 2030, with at least 75 percent of households actively connected to the grid. Current connectivity sits below that target, particularly in rural areas where the gap between infrastructure presence and actual household connection remains wide.
The country’s longer-term ambition is to become a regional energy hub, exporting power across East and Southern Africa. That goal depends on building more capacity than the domestic market requires. At 10 to 15 percent annual demand growth, Tanzania may need every megawatt it can generate well before 2030.
