26 September 2006, by PowerNell. Today the SonGas power plant at Ubungo, Dar es Salaam, is expected to return to full capacity. On August 23 the SonGas turbine no 6 broke down, causing extended power rationing in Tanzania. The broken turbine is replaced by a temporary 40 MW gas turbine engine, which was flown in last Friday from the Netherlands. The broken turbine is still in the Netherlands at a General Electric repair facility, and will be back in service by mid-October.

Many broken turbines in 2006

This year four out of six turbines at the Ubungo power plant have been fallen out. In February the breakdown of two turbines (UGT1 and UGT2) and a generator scaled down the output by about 80 MW. One of the turbines was new. In August turbine 6 (UGT6) broke down, followed by turbine 5 (UGT5) in September and another turbine hardly one week later. The SonGas turbines were in the past run on imported fuel, but in 2004 they were converted to use natural gas from Songo Songo Island, of the coast of Southern Tanzania (source: The East African, September 11, 2006). SonGas is an independent Tanzanian power firm.
Related article: The Guardian, Austin Beyadi, September 26, 2006: Songas power generation restored