Kibo seeks clarity from TANESCO on impact of tender process

Tanesco headquarters

KIBO Energy welcomed the award of a Special Mining Licence for its Mbeya coal mine which will supply the Mbeya Coal-To-Power Project (MCPP) in Tanzania, but the firm’s CEO, Louis Coetzee, acknowledged that the timeline of the overall project may be altered.

This was owing to a recent call for tenders by the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO), the state-owned power company, for independent power producers to provide “superior coal technology and integrated gasification combined cycle power plants”. Kibo is currently negotiating the terms of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with TANESCO.

“Receipt of the Special Mining Licence will be a further box ticked in the MCPP’s development plan,” said Coetzee in a statement. “Whilst timelines could be affected by TANESCO’s recent initiation of a tender process, the strong fundamentals of the project remain unaffected: the MCPP is a key energy project positioned to help alleviate Tanzania’s acute power deficit,” he added.

Coetzee said Kibo had requested clarification on “… the impact/affect the tender process for coal power projects may or may not have on its ongoing PPA negotiations with TANESCO in respect of the company’s MCPP”.