Southern Africa urgently needs to invest in its energy sector to be able to provide its growing populations with electricity and the means for economic development, a senior Namibian energy official said on Wednesday.
”Southern Africa is running dry,” Siseho Simasiku, the head of Namibia’s Electricity Control Board, said on the first day of a meeting of African members of the World Energy Council.
The two-day workshop brings together energy experts from 16 African countries to discuss ways to secure energy supplies and effectively manage energy resources.
”No country in the region can claim to have surplus energy readily available,” Simasiku said. ”This means that the cost of electricity goes up and ultimately the consumer will have to pay the price.”
Major investment is needed to tap into the continent’s energy resources, he said.
In South Africa, where the countdown to the kick-off of the 2010 World Cup in just more than 1 000 days has begun, tight reserves have sparked worries over whether the country will be able to keep the stadiums alight.
Namibia, one of several Southern African countries that relies on power from South Africa, has had to activate an old coal-fired station in the capital, Windhoek, for prolonged periods in recent years to make up for supply deficits.
South Africa’s electricity utility Eskom is investing R100-billion to bring new generating capacity online over the next five years.
Besides investing in capacity, African countries should also cut energy usage — through, for instance, the use of energy-saver light bulbs — and promote renewable energy sources, such as solar power, Simasiku said.
The Namibian government subsidises the installation of solar systems for household use and plans to fit all government buildings with solar heating systems.
Namibia is also in the process of revamping the Hwange power station in Zimbabwe in return for a steady supply of electricity once it restarts operations towards the beginning of 2008. — Sapa-dpa