Zimpapers Logo

Herald Reporter
Private players in the energy sector must invest more in solar electricity generating projects to reduce emissions and help move the country towards energy independence, a Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority official has said.Zera chief executive Engineer Gloria Magombo told The Herald that despite the immense potential of solar energy radiation in Zimbabwe which could be harnessed for electric power generation, the rich, infinite, limitless energy resource still remained largely untapped.

“Power challenges which the country is facing can be mitigated by the effective use of solar energy which is in abundance in the country,” she said.

“We want more players to invest in solar energy to help resolve the energy crisis we are facing. Zimbabwe enjoys more sunlight and studies show that we have a national average penetration of solar home systems of about 18 percent.”

The Zera official said the development of solar energy by private players and homeowners could add up thousands of small-scale operations that could create more jobs in the building and installation of solar systems.

Eng Magombo said barriers which prevented private players from expanding their solar capacity and selling their extra electricity to the utilities had been removed.