Sri Lanka’s LTL Holdings is expanding its footprint into Africa's power generation sector, with plans to explore independent power producer (IPP) opportunities, according to a Daily Mirror report on September 5. As part of this strategy, the company is setting up a $2.2mn distribution transformer assembly plant in Tanzania.

“We are establishing a transformer assembly plant in Tanzania to serve this region, and the next step will be to move into power generation,” said Mohamed Jalaldeen Mohamed Nuhuman Marikkar, LTL Holdings' chief executive officer and executive director.

The Tanzanian plant, with an annual capacity of 1,000 transformers, aims to meet the increasing demand for transformers in Tanzania and neighbouring countries like Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, and Ethiopia, Daily Mirror reported.

Initially, the plant will operate as an assembly unit for transformer components imported from Sri Lanka, in a leased facility. Over the next two years, it will be developed into a full-fledged assembly plant, with plans to further expand its capacity to a fully operational manufacturing facility in the future.

Recently, LTL Holdings launched the Sobadhanavi plant, Sri Lanka's first gas-fuelled power plant, near Colombo. The company has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India’s Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) for the supply of LNG to its Sobadhanavi power plant. The LNG will be transported from PLL’s Kochi terminal in Kerala to Sri Lanka using a multi-modal system with ISO tank containers.

The Sobadhanavi power plant, operated by Lakdhanavi Limited—the power development subsidiary of LTL Holdings—is part of the government’s strategy to enhance sustainable and cost-effective energy solutions, with a goal of adding 350 MW to the national grid by the first quarter of 2025.