By Evans Dakwa, News Editor
Harare – The SADC region’s documented energy challenges, which have seen the bloc sitting on a 1.8 GW energy deficit, can be dealt with fully if member states collaborate effectively and take advantage of the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) for the integration of energy crisis-fighting efforts.
As he officially opened the joint meeting of SADC ministers of energy and water in the capital, the Minister of Energy and Power Development in Zimbabwe, Honorable July Moyo, reiterated the importance of SAPP in unlocking the region’s energy potential. “We need to fully utilize our Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) to enhance cross-border electricity trade in our national grids and improve reliability,” he said.
He also spoke of the various endowments in the region, which should make efforts to ameliorate energy challenges feasible, saying, “The region is endowed with excellent solar irradiation. Much of Southern Africa receives 4.5–7 kWh/m²/day of average global horizontal irradiation (GHI). Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, and Zimbabwe are the solar hotspots, and we must leverage this to create a regional market to absorb regionally manufactured products to drive energy transition.”
Despite progress made, energy and water insecurity remain one of the critical challenges facing SADC and are driven by population growth, aging equipment and infrastructure, compounded by inadequate investment, technological changes, climate change, among others.
As he spoke to delegates, Minister Moyo singled out the problem of vandalism of infrastructure as one of the serious challenges to the regional and national energy and water sectors, as well as the economy at large. “Vandalism results in huge annual losses; for example, in Zimbabwe, on average, approximately four million United States dollars (US$4m) per annum are lost due to transformer theft and related damages. These acts create significant financial burdens and disrupt power supply and subsequently water supply.”
He urged the fostering of collective efforts across the region and advocated for stringent law enforcement, which includes deterrent jail terms, deployment of monitoring technologies alongside comprehensive community sensitization. As guided by the SADC Treaty and the current Protocols on Energy and on Water, he said, “Ministers responsible for Energy and for Water should collectively identify short, medium, and long-term solutions to the current challenges.” Meanwhile, as the Ministers gather and deliberate to come up with solutions, the 172 million people without access to electricity in the SADC region and the additional 400 million without access to safe and dignified sanitation will be hoping that the communiqué at the end of the meeting will address their lived realities when it comes to access to water and electricity