ZERO Regional Environment Organisation Project Officer, Wellington Madumira, says media is critical in raising awareness and communicating the power of renewable, decentralised technologies to leapfrog the traditional grid-centric approach and deliver energy access to Zimbabweans in half the time, at a fraction of the cost.
Lazarus Sauti
He said this in an interview with 263chat, on the sidelines of a Media Capacity Building Workshop, organised by Power for All at RTG recently.
Madumira added that the media in the country should be optimistic about energy issues, particularly decentralised renewable energy to effectively promote them.
By having a broader understanding of energy issues as well as reporting on them, he said the media empowers Zimbabweans to participate in energy debates as well as discussions that affect them on a daily basis.
“Media is a powerful entity and critical in the promotion of Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE)– energy that is not connected to the main grid,” he said.
“Therefore, as Power for All, a global campaign to accelerate the market-based growth of decentralised renewable energy, we are urging the media to effectively promote DREs and target policy makers so as to create a conducive and sustainable environment needed for the DRE sector to scale at speed, in order to rapidly increase the pace of energy access in the country.”
Further, Madumira said the Power for All campaign serves as a collective voice for businesses as well as civil society organisations focused on “beyond-the-grid” renewable solutions, including decentralised solar, hydro, biomass and wind designed for households and businesses.
“We want the media to promote DRE projects such as the solar street light projects in Marondera and Harare fronted by the government, solar powered garden in Gwanda spearheaded by Practical Action, Chimutsi Solar project spearheaded by Chris Mutsvanga as well as Chipendeke and Himalaya Micro Hydro Schemes.
“These DRE projects are providing a faster and more affordable path to energy access, lifting families from poverty in the process,” he said.
