Development of clean development mechanism projects in Tanzania by Green Resources as lessons learnt
Green Resources AS of Norway (GRAS) conducted a number of studies on the possibility of developing two Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Tanzania. The studies assessed the feasibility and social and environmental impacts of the projects, and prepared the necessary project-design documents for them. This report aims at sharing the lessons learnt from this process.
The paper underlines that the majority of Tanzanians rely on firewood and/or charcoal from natural forest to provide primary energy for cooking, heating and lighting. GRAS aims to utilise all the residues left in the forest and convert them to renewable energy through new small scale renewable energy units, which will utilise substantially the biomass mix.
The author indicates that several challenges presented themselves in the process of creating the project-design documents, pointing out that Tanzania lacks the experience in developing such documents.
The paper views the following findings:
- while the process of CDM is possible and profitable for the nation as a whole, it is long, expensive and requires knowledge, expertise and a lot of patience
- for the Combined Heat Power (CHP) project, carbon financing will provide the additional funds needed to make the project viable
- the wood supply chain has to be in place, sales of electricity has to be reliable, strong project management and experienced staff is equally important
- while monitoring is important, it may turn out to be an expensive process and require full time expertise of a person with good knowledge
- working with both the private and public sectors will assist in building awareness on the opportunities and challenges in the CDM market, but also build capacity within the country in order to promote more project development.
