Environmental assessment of electricity production in Tanzania

The use of fossil fuels for electricity generation contributes to local air pollution as well as to the greenhouse effect. Electricity generation technologies contribute to environmental impacts including acidification, eutrophication, resource depletion, and climate change. This paper presents the environmental assessment of the centralized grid-connected electricity production in Tanzania using a life cycle approach for the years 2000, 2015, 2020, 2026 and 2030, according to the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company Limited, TANESCO's, plans for power system expansion (power system master plan of the year 2009). The results of this study show that in all the chosen impacts categories, based on the absolute annual electricity production, environmental impacts increase significantly with time when comparing the years 2000, 2015, 2020, 2026 and 2030.

► The power system master plan for electricity in Tanzania is assessed.
► Environmental burdens in all the chosen impact categories increase during 2000–2030.
► Increased use of hydropower would help improve environmental profile of electricity.