A new report released by Nairobi-based renewable energy expert Mark Hankins has said Mozambique’s plans to build the $2 billion Mphanda Nkuwa Dam on the Zambezi River will cause more damage than good for Mozambicans.
The majority of energy generated from the dam will be transported to South Africa while leaving Mozambique to grapple with its own energy crisis. Hankins said that Mozambique could develop a domestic electricity supply system based on market-ready, clean-energy options that are low-cost, rapidly implementable, and well-suited to the geographical distribution of local demand.
Most of the technologies described in the report are also well-suited to meeting the growing need of urban areas already tied to the grid. Currently, 80% of Mozambique’s population does not have access to electricity.
“It’s time we begin to address our own energy needs, and in ways that will protect our important natural treasures like the Zambezi River,” said Anabela Lemos, the director of the Maputo-based NGO Justica Ambiental (JA!). “Clean, decentralized energy for all should be the top priority, not damming the Zambezi to support energy-hogging industry and cities in South Africa.”
Hankins said, “As long as Mozambique’s power planners focus on the huge consumer next door, they will never adequately meet the needs of their own country, which remains largely off-grid and unconnected. It doesn’t have to be this way.”