Tanzania will host the first wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa, and my heart swells with pride. I visited Tanzania last year, and while I tend to fall hopelessly in love with every foreign destination I visit, this trip really made me consider tearing up my return ticket.

Although my thoughts mostly ran to the stunning scenery and charismatic megafauna we saw on safari, Tanzania’s energy struggles were obvious: When we deplaned in Arusha (straight onto the tarmac; there are no air conditioned jetways at Arusha Airport), I was stuck by the heavy aroma of coffee tree trimmings being burned for domestic cooking. Tanzania gets most of its electricity from hydro installations, but very little of the country is connected to the grid. And without much diversity in its energy portfolio, the few Tanzanians who are on the grid are in the dark when droughts drain reservoirs.

The lodges we stayed in had electricity for just part of each day, usually powered by diesel generators. I worried that Tanzania’s ecotourism industry might soon be jeopardized by a pollution problem of its own making. Fortunately, solar seems to be catching on, if the many dusty solar contractors’ pickup trucks that I saw are any indication.

Solar seems the obvious choice for sub-Saharan Africa but it turns out there’s wind aplenty, too. When 3TIER unveiled the global 15 kilometer wind map in early March, some of our staffers were pleasantly surprised at the wind potential in the Horn of Africa, and it seems those wind speeds extend to the southwest in bands along the high escarpments of the Rift Valley.

Last year, the World Bank committed $111 million to improve Tanzania’s power system, which includes money for renewable and off-grid projects in rural areas. Looks like Tanzania won’t build the coal-fired plants that were called for in 2006, when droughts caused country-wide black outs.