Tanzania plans large solar farm at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. To harvest energy from the sun

Tanzania plans to harvest more than 10 Megawatts of electricity from the proposed large solar farm which is expected to go into operation in the Hai District of Kilimanjaro Region from June 2025.

The government thought the Technical College of Arusha will be inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Solar Alliance (ISA) for the establishment of what is going to be the largest solar farm in East Africa.

“Apart from harnessing the solar dynamism to produce electricity, the proposed farm is also going to be part of the Center of Excellence training portal for clean and renewable energy,” explained the Head of Electrical Department at the Technical College of Arusha (ATC), Ally Ngulugulu.

The solar farm will be part of the ATC Kikuletwa Renewable Energy Training and Research Center; a project which is being executed within the framework of the Eastern Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP).

According to Ngulugulu, so far there 75 students enrolled for the renewable energy training at the facility.

The modern training and energy production hub, located at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro also handles Hydroelectricity, Wind Power and Biomass energy the latter being renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals.

Earlier, the College Rector Dr Mussa Chacha, had told the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts that the center in association with ISA also plans to start training students to manufacture and repair solar equipment including panels and battery cells.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) which the ATC will work with is an alliance of 123 signatory countries.

They are being described as sunshine countries, as they are mapped within the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

The International Solar Alliance’s primary objective is to work for efficient consumption of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. ISA also serves as a platform for the collaboration of sunshine countries in the domain of energy security.

ISA is an international intergovernmental organization that was proposed and launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of France, Francois Hollande at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.