Correspondent

It is astonishing that clean energy from the sun has become the cheapest way to generate electricity.

With the prices of solar panels having been on free fall over the past 15 years, solar energy is even cheaper than thermal power.

Yet, it accounts for only three percent of the world’s electricity.

There is a need, therefore, to unpack this conundrum.

The Industrial Revolution, a major turning point in the history of human civilisation took 100 years in the 18th century.

The digital revolution, which began in the latter half of the 20th century, with the adoption and proliferation of digital computers and digital record-keeping, took two decades.

Drawing from the sequence, arguably, the next global revolution is the energy revolution, which has already begun since the energy sector is the backbone of economic progress globally.

However, how fairly and how fast it happens is the biggest challenge of our time.

The energy sector, dominated by fossil fuels, accounts for 73 percent of human-caused greenhouse gasses.

An energy transition to more renewable and efficient energy is urgently needed to slash the emissions that are rapidly warming our planet.

Our future energy system must, therefore, be clean and emit low-carbon to ensure the sustainable development of human civilisation.

Solar power is one of the best solutions.

Global temperatures are already 1,2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and are causing more frequent and more extreme weather conditions.

Close to a thousand cities will face regular, severe heat waves in 30 years.

It is worth noting that Goal 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Action, explains how solar panels work and contribute to reducing climate change.

It should be worth noting that the decade between 2010 and 2019 was the warmest one recorded in history. The current climate change is affecting the global community in every nation across the world.

Getting to a 100 percent clean energy economy is not only an obligation: it is an opportunity. Governments should fully adopt a clean energy future, not just for all of us today, but for future generations, so that their tomorrow is healthier, safer and just.

It has to be recalled that the modern-day solar cell made from silicon was invented in 1954 in the United States of America.

Back then it was mainly used in the space industry, making it super-expensive.

But as technology progressed, the prices for solar products started to fall in a bid to promote clean energy.

The cost of solar energy generation in 2015 had decreased to as low as one sixth of the cost in 2005.

In the near future, solar power will be less expensive than coal power. Renewable clean energy replacing fossil fuels is the trend of the ongoing energy revolution.

Over the last decades, rapid globalisation led to a jump in the world’s energy demand by more than 30 percent.

To meet the rising demand and counteract climate change, many countries have contracted mega projects on massive scales.

Notable examples include the 1000MW Yanchi Ningxia Solar Park in China, Noor-Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco and the 550MW Topaz Solar Farm in California, US.

Zimbabwe has no shortage of sunlight, which primes the country well in the push for green energy use. The country can tap into the abundant sunlight at its disposal, and push for the use of solar energy, which is environmentally friendly, and the globe is embracing.

By the same token, a welcome development is how Solgas, a local company, is walking the talk on renewable energy use.

As of 2021, the company had started feeding 5MW into the national grid in Hwange at an investment worth more than US$7 million with plans to spread to all the other provinces countrywide.

This is an alternative to existing electrical energy sources, like the large-scale hydro power plant at Kariba and Hwange thermal power plants, which are in resource-rich regions.

They supply their output to consumption centres through a grid system. Such developments do not only require enormous capital investments, they also cause serious environmental problems.

The energy system of the future, dominated by renewables, will be built on the basis of regions, with each region having its own energy supply system.

Thus, forming a new system with a regional power linkage interconnected with networks in other regions, so as to balance the system and ensure consistent energy supply.

An energy system like this would be quite commendable.

To buttress green energy usage, in April 2021, the Government exempted duty on the importation of solar panels in a bid to promote environmentally friendly sources of energy.

The new measure was meant to motivate those interested in investing in solar energy.

Whatever they produce in five years, they will not have to pay taxes to the Government. The move is supported by other measures taken by the Government in the Second Republic; notably, the duty-free import of solar energy production equipment.

Zimbabwe has huge and diverse renewable energy potential. The country’s sustainable energy portfolio could include solar, hydro, biomass, and, to a limited extent, wind and geothermal.

The Government put forward a National Renewable Energy Policy in 2019, which aims to have 16,5 percent of the total generation capacity (excluding large hydro), from renewable sources by 2025.

This is expected to increase to 26,5 percent by 2030.

These are among the goals Zimbabwe has presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and are promoted in its climate policy.

Climate change poses an existential threat, but responding to this threat offers an opportunity to support good-paying, union jobs, strengthen Zimbabwe’s working communities, protect public health, and advance environmental justice.

Creating jobs and tackling climate change go hand-in-hand, thus, empowering Zimbabwe to build more resilient infrastructure and expanding access to clean air and potable water.

Building on, and benefiting from that foundation, Zimbabwe’s vision of achieving an upper-middle economy status by 2030, comes within reach.

It picks up the pace of emissions reductions, while supporting the SGDs through existing goals to create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, and a net zero-emissions economy by no later than 2050.