This year Mozambican sugar mills estimate they will produce 419 000 metric tonnes of sugar -a 68% increase on 2008. Environmentalists say the waste from this and other resources could see Mozambique become a regional leader in bio-mass fired electricity.
But Mozambique is showing scant interest in renewable energy and is throwing its resources behind a US$2bn dam on the Zambezi, 70km from Cahora Bassa at Mphanda Nkuwa to mostly serve South Africa’s electrical needs amid significant criticism from environmentalists. Mozambique exports electricity from Cahora Bassa to Eskom and then reimports it for use in southern Mozambique including Maputo with high rates of energy loss during the process.
"A Clean Energy Plan for Mozambique," a new report from renewable energy consultant, Mark Hankins to be released at the Sandton Solar Energy Conference in October says there is significant potential for green biomass with five large sugar farms that could contribute considerable bagasse from sugar cane waste to bio-mass fired energy. Converting sugar waste into biofuel could put another 60MW on the grid that could extend electrification to rural areas.
Only 4,5m hectares of Mozambique’s 63,5m hectares of arable land is presently being farmed.
Hankins who is based in Nairobi and is a consultant to United States-based International Rivers, a major environmental organisation and Mozambican environmental organisation, Justica Ambiental. They say it will contribute to the significant water shortages southern Africa is expected to experience in the next few years because of global warming.
Hankins points out that Mozambicans export electricity to South Africa while only 11% of Mozambicans have access to electricity. “There is a 600KV line from Cahora Bassa to Johannesburg. The whole history of Mozambique starting with the Portuguese has been about exporting electricity to South Africa. How effectively is that money helping the Mozambique population?” Hankins asks.
Anabela Lemos of Justica Ambiental says: “We have 85% of Mozambicans living without electricity or services. Mozambique is doing 100 000 connections a year but most are in the south, they are not erecting power lines to the north.”
Hankins says that in Mozambique: “The average electricity per capita is 450KW hours per year per capita but when you remove the energy consumed by the aluminium smelter at Mozal, it goes down to 50KW per capita, which is among the lowest use in the world. South African consumption is about 50 times higher.”
International Rivers and Justica Ambiental say there is considerable potential for cost-effective energy efficiency measures in South Africa that could greatly reduce the need for new big dams on the southern African grid. They point out that South Africa’s dirty energy policies make it one of the world’s highest emitters of carbon dioxide per GDP.
They point out that large dams bring significant hydrological changes that can seriously harm water quality. For example, by trapping river-borne nutrients, dams can lead to the growth of toxic algae’s – such as that at Hartebeespoort dam. Massive algal blooms in reservoirs in Russia, South Africa and California have rendered some dams and reservoirs unfit to drink.
Dams also lead to riverbed deepening which can lower the groundwater table along a river, threatening vegetation and local wells in the floodplain and requiring crop irrigation in places where there was previously no need.
Hankins says Mozambique needs to urgently remove all tariffs on renewable energy components. He suggests Mozambique follow the lead of Tanzania and Uganda in developing off-grid rural electrification.
The Zambezi is the fifth largest river basin in the world and one of 39 rivers in Mozambique emptying into the Indian Ocean. There are also 12 medium-sized and large dams in Mozambique making it ideal for community based micro-hydro projects.
Mozambique’s Department of Energy estimates that there is capacity for 60 micro and mini-hydro power projects with a potential of up to 1 000MW. Hankins argues that the development at Mphanda Nkuwa sees Mozambique putting “all of its energy eggs into one basket and water shortages due to global warming will have a profound negative impact on the project and Mozambique’s economy.”
Last month Mozambique's over-reliance on SA patronage for electricity began costing it money. It’s largest energy company, Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa which runs Cahora Bassa dam announced a decline in its revenue this year of between eight and 10 percent, because of reduced sales of electricity to South Africa. Eskom is the largest client of HCB, and normally purchases 1 300 megawatts (out of the total Cahora Bassa generating capacity of 2 075 megawatts).
Hankins hefty study for International Rivers and Justica Ambiental details Mozambique’s potential for solar, wind, small-scale hydro and biomass. He describes how Mozambique could develop a domestic electricity supply system based on market-ready, clean-energy options that are low-cost, rapidly implementable, and suited to the geographical distribution of local demand.
He said, "As long as the Mozambique's power planners focus on the huge consumer next door, they will never adequately meet the needs of their own country."
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- - Mark Hankins – Nairobi, Kenya - Landline: 254 20 2725297
Cell: 254 722 527710 iPhone: 254 772 527710 Skype: mark_a_hankins or mhankins@africaonline.co.ke
- Anabela Lemos - JA! Justica Ambiental, Maputo
land Line +258 21 49668 cell +258843106010 anabela@ja.org.mz
- - Lori Pottinger, International Rivers, USA: lori@internationalrivers.org 01 510 848 1155
Issued by Charlene Smith Communications: for assistance in setting up interviews – Hankins will be here from 10 to 12 October - please contact Leila Beltramo on csccapetown@telkomsa.com or 021 762 2656
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