Focus on exploiting renewable energy for dev''t

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By Samuel Okulony

When Sir Winston Churchill once said Uganda is the pearl of Africa, it’s indeed true with the abundance of several natural resources in the country derived with its potential for development.

Renewable resources for the generation of electricity like wind, solar, geothermal, hydro energy are some of the typically most abundant and practical energy sources for development in rural areas.

It creates an opportunity for rural electricity utilities that are at a geographical advantage for investing in these projects for example estimates from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development indicate that, Uganda has over 52,000 sq km of uranium for nuclear energy, eminent abundance of wind potential in karamoja, geothermal in western and central Uganda among several other regions.

According to the state of environment report 2010 by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Uganda has a potential of over 5,200 MW of renewable energy which has the potential to lift the burden of Uganda’s escalating demand for energy and simultaneously improve the living conditions of women.

In fact without access to modern energy services, women and girls spend most of their time performing basic subsistence tasks, including time-consuming and physically detrimental tasks of collecting biomass fuels, which specifically constrains them from accessing decent wage employment, educational opportunities and livelihood enhancing options, as well as limits their options for social and political interaction outside the household,

On the other hand cooking from biomass is particularly harmful to the health of women and children due to eminent smoke generated from them for example of the estimated two million annual deaths attributed to indoor air pollution generated by fuels such as coal, wood, charcoal and dung, 85% are women and children who die from cancer, acute respiratory infections and lung disease.

It is, therefore, one of the most critical challenges facing both the national and international community today, access to energy is a critical enabler for economic and social development. Once communities have access to modern energy services, the impact on human development is significant from cleaner indoor air and improved health to more income generating opportunities and more time for other pursuits of women, children and vulnerable rural communities

Promotion of renewable energy technologies has the potential of increasing access to modern energy services in rural areas that currently have no access to grid electricity and pay higher prices for energy service delivery because of the transportation costs and inefficiency of traditional energy forms

In sum, there is clearly substantial latitude for expansion of renewable electricity generation in Uganda. The location and the extent of that expansion will depend on many factors including shifting economic conditions, technological improvements, and government policies. As policy makers consider the alternatives, they will need to take into account the broad impacts of investments in renewable electricity generation, including impacts on the transmission system, the economy (local, national, and international), and national security.


The writer is a programmes and research coordinator,
Africa institute for energy governance (AFIEGO)

sokulony@afiego.org
+256779760145