Political narratives of the Tanzanian power sector – A joint research project

We are currently experiencing a period of transformation in the Tanzanian power sector. This transformation process is driven by a multitude of discourses and narratives – about private sector involvement, fossil resources development, renewable energies, rural electrification and/or centralized power supply, just to name a few. Some of these discourses are parallel, some are competing, some are entangled. It has thus become increasingly difficult to gain an overall picture of the situation.

The goal of our research project is to develop a framework to identify and map the discourses, in the Tanzanian power sector, and to understand how they create dominant policy narratives. Our research is not about shared interests, let alone shared goals, but rather about shared concepts and terms. As a starting point, we have identified general statements from 20 documents related to the Tanzanian power sector. Please find the full bibliography at the bottom of the mail. We would kindly like to ask you to evaluate and rank these statements, using the online tool which can be found under this link: www.q-survey.de

The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete. Please note, that it is not an opinion survey but is aimed at assessing how different statements are weighed relative to each other. Some of the original statements have been modified by the authors of the study to make them more concise and pointed.

The data will be used for academic purposes only and all names will be kept strictly confidential. Respondents to the survey will be given priority access to the results of our study.

Some information on our background:

• Lukas Hermwille, is a Research Fellow at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and part or the energy, transport and climate policy research group.
• Jonas van der Straeten is currently pursuing his PhD on the history of electricity infrastructures in Tanzania. He is affiliated with the postgraduate program Microenergy Systems at the Technical University in Berlin and the department of History of Technology at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany.

We would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the survey. We would be grateful if you could recommend other experts who could contribute a new, unique or different perspective on the Tanzanian power sector.

With best regards

Lukas Hermwille and Jonas van der Straeten

References

–        Degani, Michael (2013): Emergency Power: Time, Ethics, and Electricity in Postsocialist Tanzania, in: Sarah Strauss/ Stephanie Rupp/ Thomas Love (Hg.), Cultures of Energy. Walnut Creek, p. 177-193.

–        Eberhard et al. (2008): Underpowered: The State of the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic – Background Paper 6. Washington DC: The World Bank.

–        Ghanadan, Rebecca (2009): Connected geographies and struggles over access: Electricity commercialisation in Tanzania, in: David A. McDonald (Ed.), Electric Capitalism: Recolonising Africa on the Power Grid. Kapstadt, p. 400-436.

–        IPCC (2011): Special Report: Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Chapter 9: Renewable Energy in the Context of Sustainable Development. Cambridge.

–        McDonald, David (2009): Electric Capitalism: Conceptualizing electricity and capital accumulation in (South) Africa, in: David McDonald (Ed.): Electric Capitalism: Recolonising Africa on the Power Grid. Kapstadt, p. 1-49.

–        Mwakapugi, Arthur/ WathedaSamij/ Sean Smith (2010): The Tanzanian Energy Sector: The Potential for Job Creation and Productivity Gains Through Expanded Electrification, Dar es salaam: REPOA.

–        OECD/IEA (2011): Energy for All. Financing Access for the Poor. Special early excerpt of the World Energy Outlook 2011, Paris.

–        Showers, Kate (2011): Electrifying Africa: An Environmental History with Policy Implications. In: GeografiskerAnnaler: Series B, Human Geography 93 (3), p. 193-221.

–        Tenenbaum et al. (2014): From the Bottom Up – How Small Power Producers and Mini-Grids Can Deliver Electrification and Renewable Energy in Africa. Washington DC: The World Bank.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2003): Initial National Communication under der United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Dodoma: Vice Presidents Office.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2003): The National Energy Policy. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2007): National Adaptation Programme of Action. Dodoma: VicePresidents Office.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2010): National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty II (MKUKUTA). Dar es Salaam: MinistryofFinanceandEconomicAffairs.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2011): The Tanzanian Five Year Development Plan 2011/2012 – 2015/2016: Unleashing Tanzania’s Latent Growth Potentials. Dodoma: The Presidents Office.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2013): Power System Master Plan 2012 Update.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2013): The National Natural Gas Policy of Tanzania – 2013.

–        United Republic of Tanzania (2014): The Draft National Energy Policy 2014-2. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Energy and Minerals. (not accessible online yet)

–        USAID (2014): Power Africa – Annual Report. Washington DC: USAID.

–        Walsh, Martin (2012): The not-so-Great Ruaha and hidden histories of an environmental panic in Tanzania, in: Journal of Eastern African Studies 6,2, p. 303–335.

–        Weischer (2012): Achieving development goals with renewable energy: the case of Tanzania. INSIDE STORIES on climate compatible development. CDKN.

Electricity in colonial German East Africa and British Tanganyika Territory , 1908-1950

Electricity as a “tool of empire”?

As most industrial technologies, electricity arrived at the African continent with colonial administrators, serving European interests. As Daniel R. Headrick has demonstrated in The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century technology interacted with colonial motives, providing fresh means to a “new imperialism” for a (cost-)effective expansion. Consequently, industrial technology profoundly influenced the timing, location and nature of imperialism. [1] But different from steamboats, machine guns, transport and telecommunications networks, electricity served neither the quest of penetration, conquest and consolidation of new territories, but one which is hardly addressed by Headrick: Rather than being a “tool of empire” in his sense, electricity mainly served the development and exploitation of the colonies, predominantly in the extractive industries and in providing basic technological infrastructures. Besides providing amenities for non-African settlers, the arrival and spread of electricity was mainly associated with commercial interests. For instance, the reason for the construction of Tanzanias first hydroelectric plant at Hale’s Falls on the Pangani River was the supply of the local sisal industry.[2]

Electricity, development and statecraft in the late-colonial and post-colonial era, 1950-1990

At the end of World War II the United Nations Trust Territories Tanganyika experienced a period of steady economic growth fueled by high demand for sisal and high commodity prices. In this period, colonial administration shifted from an extractive economic policy to a concept of integrated social-economic development. The centralized 1946 Colonial Development and Welfare Act also increasingly emphasized improving “native development” and “social welfare” as a part of broader economic considerations. In the course of this paradigm shift, electricity’s role for economic development was redefined.

Public good or commodity? Electricity sector reforms since 1990

This section will discuss the power sector reforms in Tanzania in the 1990ies. Cited literature:

• Renfrew, Christie, Electricity, Industry, and Class in South Africa. New York 1984.
• Eberhard, Anton [et al.], Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic. Underpowered: The State of the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank Background Paper, Mai 2008.
• Ghanadan, Rebecca, Connected geographies and struggles over access: Electricity commercialisation in Tanzania, in: David A. McDonald (Hg.), Electric Capitalism: Recolonising Africa on the Power Grid. Kapstadt 2009, 400-436.
• Ghanadan, Rebecca, Public Service or Commodity Goods? Electricity Reforms, Access, and the Politics of Development in Tanzania. Unv. Diss, University of California, Berkeley, USA 2008.
• Ghanadan, Rebecca/ Anton Eberhard, Electricity Utility Management Contracts in Africa: Lessons and Experience from the TANESCO-NETGroup Management Contract in Tanzania, 2002-2006. Kapstadt 2007.
• Gratwick, Katharine Nawaal / Anton Eberhard,  Demise of the standard model for power sector reform and the emergence of hybrid power markets, in: Energy Policy 36 (2008), 3948–3960.
• Gratwick, Katharine Nawaal / Rebecca Ghanadan/ Anton Eberhard, Generating Power and Controversy, Understanding Tanzania’s Independent Power Projects,  in: Journal of Energy in Southern Africa  17,4 (2006), 39-56.
• McDonald, David A. Electric Capitalism: Recolonising Africa on the Power Grid. Earthscan, 2009.

Political ecology and the history of electricity in Africa

This chapter will discuss the environmental perspective on the history  of electricity in Tanzania and discuss the energetic basis of political power. Cited literature:

• Showers, Kate B., Electrifying Africa: an environmental, history with policy implications’, in: Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 93,3 (2011), 193–221.
• Degani, Michael, Emergency Power: Time, Ethics, and Electricity in Postsocialist Tanzania, in: Sarah Strauss/ Stephanie Rupp/ Thomas Love (Hg.), Cultures of Energy. Walnut Creek 2013, 177-193.
• Russell, Edmund, James Allison, Thomas Finger, John K. Brown, Brian Balogh, und W. Bernhard Carlson, The Nature of Power: Synthesizing the History of Technology and Environmental History, in: Technology and Culture 52 (2011), 246–259.

Doctoral Fellowships: Postgraduate Program “Urban Infrastructures in Transition: The Case of African Cities” at Darmstadt University of Technology

Highly interesting opportunity for students interested in urban infrastructures in East Africa to get scholarship for a PhD! A close collaboration with our PhD program Microenergy Systems at TU Berlin is planned. If you are looking for topics, please contact me for a joint brainstorming: koordination-mes@mailbox.tu-berlin.de .
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ANNOUNCING 8 DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
“Urban Infrastructures in Transition: The Case of African Cities”

The Graduate School for Urban Studies (URBANgrad) from Darmstadt University of Technology announces eight doctoral fellowships, beginning October 1, 2014.

Symposium on Innovating Energy Access for Remote Areas: Discovering untapped resources on Apr. 10 – 12, 2014 at UC California, Berkeley

Together with the Berkeley Rural Energy Research Group (BREG) our  Microenergy Systems Research Group (MES)  is currently organizing symposium on Innovating Energy Access for Remote Areas: Discovering untapped resources to be held on April 10 – 12, 2014 at UC California, Berkeley. Take a look at the symposium website and th Call for Papers. Deadline for papers (short papers of four pages) is Jan. 15, 2014.

I am part of the organizing team and will submit an paper and attend the conference as well. I’ll be glad to meet you there!

Conference Powering Africa: Accelerating the delivery of affordable & reliable power in Tanzania on Jan. 29th, 2014

I am planning to attend the conference Powering Africa: Accelerating the delivery of affordable & reliable power in Tanzania in Dar es Salaam on January 29th, 2014, to get some contacts for interviews and access to archives.

Lecture on the History of Swedish Hydropower Constructions in Tanzania by May-Britt Öhman on Jan. 21st, 2014

As a session of the lecture series Energy in Development of the postgraduate program Microenergy Systems, Dr. May-Britt Öhman from Uppsala Univeristy in Sweden will give a lecture on Historical Perspectives on Electricity Generation in Africa – Swedish Hydropower Constructions in Tanzania in the Era of Development Assistance, 1960s – 1990s . The lecture will be held on Tuesday, January 21st, 2014 from 6 to 8 pm. It takes place in the MAR 0.011 at the Technical University of Berlin, Marchstraße 23.

I have invited Dr. Öhman to Berlin not least because she has an extensive knowledge about archives and sources in regard to the history of electricity in Tanzania. We are planning a meeting or workshop the day before the lecture to exchange experiences and discuss research strategies. Please contact me, if you are interested to join.

RGS-IBG Annual Conference: The contested politics of urban electricity networks: Insights from urban infrastructure studies in 2013

Check out the website of the this conference, which was held by the Energy Geographies Working Group, Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG) in 2013, for contacts, papers and research questions.