The Sunday Mail
Written by Johnson Siamachira
“WE are totally dependent on firewood for cooking as we don’t have other alternatives,’’ says Servy Mudyariwa of Himalaya Village of Mutare district in Manicaland province of Zimbabwe.
She says: “Collecting firewood is a very difficult task for the whole family. We spend at least four hours collecting about 50 kilograms of firewood. The route to the forest is also rough, an odious task we partake in at least twice a week.”
Another woman in the same village, Esther Kamhungira, echoed similar sentiments.
“For me, getting energy for cooking and lighting is a daily worry. It’s so hard to find firewood that I cook for my family only once a day, in the evening. The fire provides the light for cooking and eating for my entire family. After that, it is bedtime.’’
Mudyariwa and Kamhungira are far from alone.
Over 1,6 billion people, almost one third of the world’s population, have no electricity. The energy situation in Africa, for example, is characterised by lack of access to sustainable energy services, which leads to a self-perpetuating vicious cycle of poverty, poor health, low productivity and food shortages.
The need to accelerate development in Africa is widely recognised and access to clean reliable energy is vital to that task.
While there have been gains in access to electricity worldwide during the past 20 years, there are still huge gaps.
There is also widespread recognition that countries cannot meet individual developmental goals without an integrated energy solution.
Energy from rural electrification schemes is usually insufficient or unaffordable for cooking, leaving millions of families in smoke-filled kitchens.
In Zimbabwe, the main sources of energy are coal, wood, electricity and petroleum fuels.
According to the 2009 national energy balance, wood fuel provides the bulk (61 percent) of the total energy supply, followed by liquid fuels (18 percent), electricity (13 percent) and coal (8 percent).
Thirty percent of households in Zimbabwe have access to electricity connected via power lines, but there is a significant difference between urban and rural areas in their access to that electricity.
In urban areas, 83 percent of households have electricity, compared to 13 percent in rural areas, according to the Government of Zimbabwe’s National Energy Policy of 2012.
Zimbabwe’s renewable energy resources (hydro, wind and solar energy) augment the energy deficit.
However, the country faces challenges of lack of economic resources, and the technical capability to enable people to have universal access to energy.
Renewable energy projects in Mutare district clearly outline and present the case of using appropriate technology to challenge energy poverty from the perspective of the rural folk.
A micro hydro project which generates electricity in Chipendeke resettlement area, 64 kilometres south of Mutare city centre, has transformed the lives of people in this remote rural area.
Chipendeke is benefiting from a scheme bringing electricity to the area, where national grid connection is costly and difficult. The project generates an estimated 25 kilowatts of electrical energy which can light about 400 homes. There is no more travelling to buy or recharge batteries for lighting, radios or television.
The micro hydro-power project is a cheap, sustainable and small-scale technology that harnesses the energy of falling water to produce electricity.
The project was developed with technical assistance from Practical Action Southern Africa, a non-governmental organisation, and it has benefited about 200 households so far.
Skills for turbine manufacturing were transferred from Nepal to Zimbabwe.
The project also alleviates the environmental problems associated with using wood for cooking, diesel for milling and paraffin for lighting.
The micro hydro scheme is owned and operated by the community it serves, with maintenance carried out by skilled members of the community.
Chipendeke Clinic, which used to face operational problems at night due to lack of lighting, was one of the first beneficiaries of the project.
“The clinic is now able to treat people at night and store medicines,’’ said a Chipendeke Clinic nursing staff, William Chanakira. “The biggest problem we used to face was with women who gave birth at night. They had to provide their own candles or lamps.’’
In partnership with Oxfam, Practical Action Southern Africa has also embarked on a four-year 80-kilowatt micro hydro power project in Himalaya, about 20 kilometres from Chipendeke.
The project aims to increase access to modern, affordable and sustainable renewable energy services for the rural irrigation communities in Himalaya.
The communities have great potential of improving crop productivity, environmental benefits and other socio-economic activities for sustainable development through the utilisation of renewable energy in agricultural operations, public institutions and household activities.
Nationally, the current rate of adoption of renewable energy technology is low due to high initial investments costs, limited knowledge about renewable energy technology and lack of competitiveness compared to conventional electricity.
By promoting the use of micro hydro, this project will enhance the accessibility of rural communities to modern renewable energy for productive use.
Electricity being generated at Himalaya will be used primarily for business enterprises: processing timber, water pumping for agriculture and energy kiosks for storage and processing of perishable products.
“The micro-hydro project successfully completed the first 14-hectare irrigation scheme and a pole treatment plant benefiting 30 households,” said Eutious Chirara, secretary of the Himalaya Micro-hydro Association.
Communities in Himalaya can now harvest and treat timber within their area, getting more income and moving from subsistence to commercialised agriculture.
The low-cost “run-of-the-river” systems do not require a dam or storage facility to be constructed; instead they divert water from the stream or river, channel it into a valley and drop it into a turbine via a pipeline called a penstock.
The turbine drives a generator that provides the electricity to the local community. They also avoid the damage of the environment and social effects that larger hydroelectric schemes cause, including flooding risks.
The activities in the two areas complement the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative, a United Nations global goal for achieving universal energy access to modern energy services by 2030.
The UN is leading this campaign to mobilise action from all sectors of society: business, governments, investors, community groups and academia.
Hivos, an international development agency, is also funding local civil society organisations to implement SE4ALL activities, especially developing communications and media outreach programmes, dialogue and awareness meetings.
Shepard Zvigadza, ZERO Regional Environment Organisation programme manager, highlighted the importance of energy access in poverty reduction and the role of energy services in meeting the MDGs.
“The Sustainable Energy for All initiative is a key priority on the global development agenda. It is a foundation for all MDGS . . . Without energy services, the poor are cut off from basic amenities.
“Without access to energy, people are forced to live and work in unhealthy, polluted conditions. Energy poverty directly affects the viability of forests, soils and rangelands. In short, it is an obstacle to the MDGs,” he said.
Zvigadza also says sustainable energy for all by 2030 can still become a reality if developing countries come up with a new framework for action, such as supporting the Government to lobby for international funding and technical support, as well as garnering financial support from the local business community, educational institutions and other donors.
Johnson Siamachira is a Harare-based journalist specialising in environment and development writing. He can be reached on [email protected]
