ESCOM challenged to think outside box: ‘Consider renewable energy technologies’

A new international organisation now locally registered in Malawi – Sustainable Energy For All – has called on lone electricity supplier Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi (ESCOM) to “consider renewable energy technologies” if the country is bail itself out of its power challenges.

The organization’s project officer Samuel Admore told Nyasa Times in an interview that they were “currently engaged in organizing awareness and advocacy campaigns” within and without the country on the same.

He said it was important that Malawians from the grassroots “fully understand” issues to do with renewable technologies.

“We now have projects whose aim is to impart the knowledge to students, and other concerned stakeholders throughout the country.

“Our slogan is lets double the rate [of our energy], and at the same time lets double our access to energy,” said Admore.

He said with Malawi’s climatic state it was possible to establish “solar and wind farms.”

But he said there was need for “political will” on part of government leaders for such projects to come into fruition.

Admore added their campaign was “ongoing and has support of United Nations (UN) general secretary Bani Kimoon.

“In Malawi we started at the Polytechnic, and we will also do the same at the rest of the country’s universities in what we’re calling Action Days campaign,” he said.

According to www.se4all.org  Kimoon emphasizes the fact that  the world faces two urgent and interconnected challenges related to energy..

He notes that one is related to energy access.

“Nearly one person in five on the planet still lacks access to electricity. More than twice that number, almost three billion people, rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating. This is a major barrier to eradicating poverty and building shared prosperity,” he says.

He adds: “Where modern energy services are plentiful, the problem is different – waste and pollution. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are contributing to changes in the Earth’s climate that are causing widespread harm to lives, communities, infrastructure, institutions and budgets. Climate change puts us all at risk, but it hurts the poor first – and worst.”

Studies indicate that Malawi’s electricity production was at 1.676KWh (2008 est.) as of 2013 but with electricity consumption of 1.559 KWh (2008 est.) and a population of over 14 million.

The statics are far much below Malawi neighbours including Mozambique which a long time civil war in the nineties. Mozambique was producing over 14.98 with a population of over 24 million.

Attempts to upgrade Malawi’s power generation has proven futile over the years.

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