Biomass Electricity
We are currently finalising the details with the State electricity supplier to install a biomass electricity generator on Mafia Island. The generator, fed by a gasifier, will be the first of its kind in Tanzania and will, in due course, replace the existing diesel generators which generate the Island's electricity.
Coconut timber is cropped from the bottom third only of the trunk. The tops are too soft for use as timber.
These tops, fronds and sawmill off-cuts are a valuable source of biomass which will be used to fuel the new power station.
Using diesel engines is one of the dirtiest, most uneconomical and most environmentally hazardous ways of generating electricity there is. But it is also the only practical option in many remote areas.
Combined sawmill waste and coppice crop production on Ng'ombeni will provide Mafia with the fuel requirement it needs to generate its total predicted electricity demand indefinitely.
A large portion of Mafia is surrounded by the Marine Park so this clean energy project is a particularly exciting prospect for the Island. The new biomass power station will remove Mafia's dependence on fossil fuel and its environmental risks. Carbon dioxide emissions will be neutral and Mafia will have an independent source of affordable electricity.
Rural Electrification
Perhaps more importantly, Mafia Island will become the proving ground for technology which can be replicated in other parts of Tanzania. Any remote area with farm biomass to burn can produce its own electricity and, in so doing, develop its economy independently without harming the environment.
Biomass electricity could have a major impact on alleviating rural poverty.
Mafia Island is soon to become an independent power island with its own infinitely renewable source of clean, green, affordable electricity.
