The World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds (CIF), designed to help developing countries pilot transformations to clean technology, has endorsed an investment plan aimed at assisting Tanzania in scaling up the development of its abundant renewable-energy resources.

The plan is designed to transform the country’s energy sector, shifting from its increasing dependence on fossil fuels and climate-sensitive hydro resources to a more diversified energy mix, that would make use of geothermal and solar resources, the African Development Bank (AfDB), which was leading the development in Tanzania, said.

The project, which includes geothermal development and developing renewable energy for rural electrification, will receive $50-million in funding from the CIF’s Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Programme in Low-Income Countries (SREP), with the balance of the funding to be provided by the AfDB, the World Bank, local government, the private sector, commercial sources and other development partners.

The AfDB states that the geothermal component of the project – which will catalyse the development of more than 100 MW of geothermal power, while also establishing an enabling environment for large-scale geothermal development – is expected to receive $25-million from SREP and $45-million from the AfDB.

Meanwhile, the component of the project focusing on renewable energy for rural electrification will include investments in renewable-energy technologies, stakeholder capacity building, integration with public-private partnerships and the provision of technical assistance and advisory services.

The AfDB says that it expects the Tanzanian SREP will have a transformative impact on the country through supporting low carbon development pathways that reduce energy poverty and increase energy security.

“By 2020, it is expected that per capita electricity use in Tanzania will increase from 78 kWh to 350 kWh, with yearly electricity output from renewable-energy sources increasing from 370 GWh/y to 2 000 GWh/y once the geo- thermal plant becomes opera- tional,” the AfDB explains.

An additional $1.7-million in project preparation grants for the two components of the plan have also been approved.