Assessment of Electricity Industries in SADC Region Energy Diversification and Sustainability

Articles > Article · 2021

Authors: KAKOMA CHILALA BOWA, MABVUTO MWANZA, MBUYU SUMBWANYAMBE, Koray ÜLGEN, JAN HARM PRETORIUS

Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal, Refereed Journals of Other Institutions, International, Scopus, 2021, vol 6, pp 894-906

DOI: 10.25046/aj0602101

Summary

<p>Before&nbsp; the&nbsp; COVID-19&nbsp; crisis,&nbsp; the&nbsp; Southern&nbsp; African&nbsp; Developing&nbsp; Countries&nbsp; (SADC)&nbsp; had&nbsp; a&nbsp;</p><p>varied energy mix including renewable energy, fossil fuels, and military energy production.&nbsp;</p><p>The use of fossil fuels in the energy mix is known to be the source of the growing levels of&nbsp;</p><p>greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, there was a reduction in GHG emissions&nbsp;</p><p>following&nbsp; the&nbsp; pandemic,&nbsp; which&nbsp; reduced&nbsp; travel&nbsp; and&nbsp; trade,&nbsp; and&nbsp; worldwide&nbsp; disruption&nbsp; in&nbsp;</p><p>economic&nbsp; activities.&nbsp; The&nbsp; priority&nbsp; of&nbsp; priority&nbsp; B&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; 2015-2020&nbsp; Regional&nbsp; Indicative&nbsp;</p><p>Strategic&nbsp; Development&nbsp; Plan,&nbsp; which&nbsp; is&nbsp; Energy,&nbsp; continues.&nbsp; As&nbsp; a&nbsp; result,&nbsp; the&nbsp; availability&nbsp; of&nbsp;</p><p>affordable and renewable energy is still a priority for south of the equator countries and&nbsp;</p><p>their growth agenda. This paper is aimed at exploring the sustainability of SADC countries’&nbsp;</p><p>electricity&nbsp; sectors&nbsp; by&nbsp; using&nbsp; three&nbsp; sustainability&nbsp; pillars:&nbsp; Social,&nbsp; Environmental&nbsp; and&nbsp;</p><p>Economic&nbsp; (SEE).&nbsp; SEE&nbsp; offers&nbsp; the&nbsp; main&nbsp; concepts&nbsp; of&nbsp; renewable&nbsp; energy,&nbsp; in&nbsp; a&nbsp; way&nbsp; that&nbsp; is&nbsp;</p><p>socially,&nbsp; environmentally&nbsp; appropriate&nbsp; and&nbsp; economically&nbsp; viable.&nbsp; Study&nbsp; shows&nbsp; a&nbsp; gap&nbsp; in&nbsp;</p><p>access rate in SADC countries with only Mauritius and Seychelles reaching 100% access&nbsp;</p><p>to&nbsp; modern&nbsp; energy&nbsp; services&nbsp; (electricity)&nbsp; for&nbsp; both&nbsp; rural&nbsp; and urban&nbsp; areas.&nbsp; Currently&nbsp; all&nbsp; the&nbsp;</p><p>member&nbsp; countries&nbsp; have&nbsp; set&nbsp; their&nbsp; RE&nbsp; goals&nbsp; for&nbsp; the&nbsp; year&nbsp; 2030.&nbsp; However,&nbsp; the&nbsp; subsidies&nbsp; by&nbsp;</p><p>SADC&nbsp; member&nbsp; countries&nbsp; indicate&nbsp; that&nbsp; they&nbsp; are&nbsp; practiced&nbsp; as&nbsp; a&nbsp; way&nbsp; to&nbsp; make&nbsp; electricity&nbsp;</p><p>affordable, and also to make electricity available to lower income households. In the period&nbsp;</p><p>2014-2017,&nbsp; big&nbsp; national&nbsp; budget&nbsp; deficits&nbsp; happened&nbsp; in&nbsp; various&nbsp; Southern&nbsp; African&nbsp; countries&nbsp;</p><p>because&nbsp; of&nbsp; subsidies.&nbsp; Thus,&nbsp; this&nbsp; paper&nbsp; is&nbsp; of&nbsp; crucial&nbsp; importance&nbsp; to&nbsp; the&nbsp; foundational&nbsp;</p><p>advancement&nbsp; of&nbsp; sustainable&nbsp; electricity&nbsp; sector&nbsp; growth&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; country.&nbsp; The&nbsp; findings&nbsp; of&nbsp; this&nbsp;</p><p>paper play a crucial role in helping and guiding politicians to better understand the existing&nbsp;</p><p>and&nbsp; challenges&nbsp; future&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; energy&nbsp; market&nbsp; and&nbsp; alternatives&nbsp; to&nbsp; address&nbsp; these&nbsp; problems.&nbsp;</p><p>Additional&nbsp; research&nbsp; is&nbsp; given on&nbsp; how&nbsp; to&nbsp; arrive&nbsp; at&nbsp; sustainable&nbsp; decisions&nbsp; for&nbsp; the&nbsp; electricity&nbsp;</p><p>sector in the region.</p>

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