Zimpapers Logo

Herald Reporter
Zimbabweans should embrace solar energy to ease pressure on the national electricity grid and to reduce power imports.

This was said by Wayon Trading Company managing director Mr Paul Zhou during the inaugural Energy Sources Expo organised by The Herald marketing department in Harare on Saturday.

The call comes after Government last year indicated that it would ban electric geysers this year and replace them with solar geysers.

Wayon Trading which specialises in earth moving equipment and solar systems was one of the participants at the exhibition.

In an interview on the sidelines of exhibition, Mr Zhou said due to climate change, solar energy was the way to go because it was eco- friendly.

“By going to solar you are already saving your national grid so you can free up that power for other uses such as industry,” he said.

“Solar usage is the trend now the world over, but mainly by using solar you will be in control of your power usage.”

Asked on the uptake of solar equipment in Zimbabwe Mr Zhou said: “The uptake is still low especially on solar geysers.

“ However, apart from geysers, we offer solar street lighting and also supply solar generators.

“We offer a guarantee for our products and for solar lights they have a durability of up to 15 years.”

In its line of business, Wayon Trading offers several other products such as rock drilling equipment, and hydraulic components.

The Herald business manager (marketing) Ms Charity Gwata-Chirume described the exhibition as a success after attracting more than 30 exhibitors.

“Zimpapers is coming up with non-traditional areas of generating revenue channels and one of them is organising events,” she said.

“One of them is this Energy Sources Expo. The quality of exhibitors who are here is very pleasing and as a marketing department we are not disappointed.

“As the inaugural event, I can say it was excellent because we had at least 30 exhibitors.”

Mrs Gwata-Chirume said the Energy Expo sought to cover the gap between the community and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority where the power utility was failing to cope with electricity demand in the country.