[img:Tanzania _ Pic 1_0.jpg|Sub-station in the
East African power
transmission network]Dar es Salaam, Tanzania --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 22 December 2010 - Tanzania's energy regulator has announced that it will allow the state-run power company to raise tariffs by 18.5% next year, amid increasing chronic electricity shortages in the east African country.

Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) has approved an increase of the tariff to 141 shillings per kWh from next year, against the utility's requested tariff of 160 shillings per kWh.

[img:Saudi - Pic 1_0.jpg|One of the Saudi
Arabian Electricity
Company’s transmission
facilities]Khobar, Saudi Arabia --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 22 December 2010 - The Saudi Arabian Electricity Company (SEC) may involve private companies in building more power plants to feed the country’s major electricity consumers such as state oil giant Saudi Aramco, and is planning a major increase in capacity.

[img:Ukraine - Pic 1_0.jpg|Hydropower dam of
UkrHydroEnergo, largest
power generator in
the Ukraine]Vyshgorod, Ukraine --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 22 December 2010 - With World Bank funding, the government of the Ukraine is carrying out a hydropower rehabilitation programme to improve the operational stability and reliability of its hydroelectric plants.

Revealing this development in a statement issued here, Ukraine utility UkrHydroEnergo (OJSC) announced that it had awarded a pair of contracts estimated at US$13.7 million (R93 million) to supply an automated dam safety monitoring system for its hydro-electric projects.

[img:Alstom - h_0.jpg|One of Russia’s
current hydro-power
plants]Levallois-Perret, France --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 21 December 2010 - Alstom ‒ a world leader in power generation and transmission ‒ has signed strategic agreements with major Russian energy companies to jointly provide power generation products and services for Russia's power industry.

Making the announcement here, Alstom confirmed that it would be working with the Russian companies in the fields of hydropower generation, thermal power generation, nuclear power generation and electricity transmission.

[img:Yunnan - Pic 1_0.jpg|Dachaoshan hydropower
station in Yunnan
province]Kunming, China --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 21 December 2010 - China's Yunnan Province plans to invest US$121 million (R822 million) over the next five years to construct 136 small-scale hydro plants in the province.

This was reported here by the Yunnan branch of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). With its vast water resources, the province had a total installed hydropower capacity of 24.23 million kilowatts as of the end of last year, according to Yunnan NDRC statistics.

Power Technologies, a member of the JSE-listed Allied Electronics group, has announced its entry into the switchgear market with two products in the 11 kV air insulated medium voltage range. The new range of products is dubbed the PT Switchgear Air Medium Voltage ZZK-12 series.