BY TEWODROS KASSA
Due to the utilization of carbon-based energy, the ever-growing giant manufacturing industries throughout the world have been polluting the environment critically. Therefore, the world should be united more than ever in order to limit the toxic carbon emission into the atmosphere.
Ethiopia is blessed with abundant renewable energy resources like hydro, wind, solar, and geothermal which are suitable for renewable energy generation. However, in spite of all the available potentials, the country’s modern energy sector is still in its infancy stage. The majority of Ethiopia’s population lives in a rural area without access to modern energy and relied solely on traditional biomass sources. Ethiopia has one of the lowest electricity consumptions per capita in Africa. Ethiopia needs to cope up with key challenges related to energy security and diversifying the supply.
Therefore, it prioritizes investing in renewable energy sources to meet its energy demand.
According to the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia is one of the countries in the east Africa that has abundant solar energy resources. The amount of the resource is relatively smaller in the most populous northern, central and western highlands of the country while the rift valley regions and western and eastern lowlands of the country receive higher annual average irradiance.
Even though abundant solar energy resources are available in the country, only about 14 MW of solar potentials have been used for telecom service, lighting, powering water pumps in rural areas, and water heating in major cities. The rural households that consume low electricity energy can enhance their demand meet from off-the-grid solar solutions and the government is trying its level best in this regard.
The provision of off-grid energy is taken as solution for un-electrified rural households that are far from the electric grid and not covered by the densification program in the short term.
Eco Green Energy Solutions PLC CEO Sintayehu Shibru said that everyone has a responsibility to contribute his/her part in protecting the environment from pollutions through utilizing renewable energy solutions. Eco Green Energy Solutions has brought tangible solutions to promote the culture of utilizing green energy solutions and addressing the rural community’s energy demand. It also engages solar energy technologies supply channel platform that directly connects the producers with consumers.
The platform has understood that farmers have greater demand for quality solar energy products and considering this, it has been working in supplying solar equipment for the past years.
Eco Green Energy Solutions is engaged in integrating the market and ensuring that consumers could obtain safe solar products. It works in partnership with regional and woreda level energy offices, microfinance institutions, solar product suppliers, model farmers’ cooperatives, among others to avail latest solar technology products at the doorsteps of the farmers in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ region.
The company also creates loan opportunities with the cooperation of Vision fund microfinance, Omo microfinance, and Metemamen microfinance to address the farmers’ financial limitations so that enable to buy solar products. Some of the microfinance institutions have more than 25,000 members and such situation has significant impact in meeting their solar products demands through the provision of guarantees and loans.
“Currently, there is a huge demand and supply gap in the environmentally friendly solar technologies in the rural community. The country’s electricity access coverage is not more than 50 percent. And investing widely in the off-the-grid electricity access is fundamental to tackle swiftly to the current electricity access challenges across the country,” he said.
He further said that most rural residents in Ethiopia utilize charcoal, wood, and fuel as a major source of energy. Thus, using the traditional source of energy affects their health, social activities, economy, and environment. Therefore, utilizing the latest renewable source of energy like solar power is important to ease the farmers’ hard living situation and reverse environmental pollution.
Nevertheless, some illegal energy equipment suppliers provide rural residents fake solar energy materials. Others also avail low standard solar products with lower prices usually 60 to 70 percent price reduction compared to the original solar products.
The low-quality solar products exposed the farmers to repetitive loss and forced some to quit utilizing solar products due to their less durability , he added.
Eco Green PLC has distributed more than 250 reliable solar energy technologies to the farmers in the SNNPs regional state and conducted a follow up work on checking the safety of solar products. It also does some maintenance. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic and the political instability hampered the company’s aspiration to deliver up to 5,000 proven solar energy products with affordable price to the rural community.
As to Sintayehu, farmers choose solar products that are cheap in price but such products are counterfeit ones. And the products do not serve more than a week or so and causes pollution to the environment. Thus, it is important to identify fake solar products from the original products to protect the environment from pollution. The company also collects the damaged solar products and and disposes them through its e-waste management system contaminating the environment.
Sustainable use of renewable energy solutions play crucial role for long-term social, economic, and environmental benefit. It is expected that after 2050, 50 percent of the global energy supply will be generated from renewable energy resources.
Currently, there is a sustainable demand for solar energy products in the country. However, the penetration of fake solar energy products has affected the market and public reliance on renewable sources of energy.
He recommended that establishing a legal solar marketing system, restricting fake and defective solar products supply to the market, and carefully working in collaboration with stakeholders will help improve solar energy products consumption in the country.
Wolaita Zone Damot Woida Woreda Energy Bureau Alternative Energy Coordinator Dinkinesh Feko on her part said that the woreda is working prioritizing on solar, biogas, and energy-saving stove technologies distribution. The demand for solar technologies is increasing in the rural community because of its affordability and the accessibility of loan from the microfinance institutions operating in the woreda. The woreda is working in coordination with Eco Green energy solutions to increase the number of solar energy alternative users through identifying and distributing the real solar energy technologies.
The solar energy products distributed by the woreda energy bureau in coordination with Eco Green Energy solutions proved that the technology has brought a tangible result in improving their living.
Wolaita Zone Damot Woida Woreda resident farmer Yakob Alambo said that he has bought the solar energy product through taking the loan opportunity created by Vision Fund microfinance and Eco Green energy solutions. He said that his children have been facing different obstacles to study in the evening. Now he has bought the solar product and it gives service for more than a year. He advises other farmers to buy solar products from the legal organizations than buying from the street vendors and other illegal traders.
The Ethiopian Herald October 24/2021
