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Zimbabwe’s renewable Energy Association formed

August 20, 2016

By  Wallace Mawire download (2)As Zimbabwe aims to move with the rest of the world in adopting renewable and clean energy solutions, a new association, the Renewable Energy Association of Zimbabwe (REAZ) has been formed to advance alternative and clean energy solutions for energy deprived communities. According to Simba Sibanda, REAZ Inaugural Secretary, the association aims to be a reputable umbrella association, supporting and enabling the sustainable growth of the renewable energy sector throughout Zimbabwe and beyond. "Our mission is to promote all forms of renewable energy technologies into the mainstream of the Zimbabwean economy and lifestyle by emphasizing the need for quality and best practice throughout the sector in a sustainable manner for the benefit of members, consumers and other stakeholders," Sibanda said. The objectives of the association are also to provide a platform for the promotion and development of renewable energy technologies in Zimbabwe, establish working relationships with similar national and international organizations for the purposes of enhancing the objectives of  the association, facilitating information dissemination for the benefit of the public and the membership, formulating proposals for improvements in the renewable energy sector and making recommendations to the responsible authorities. Other initatives will include participating in resource mobilization on behalf of stakeholders of renewable energy projects, promoting technology transfer,promoting sound business practices and standardization of products within the sector and promoting the local manufacture of renewable energy products and enterprise development. In trying to promote renewable and clean energy solutions, Zimbabwe has adopted global initiatives like the Power for All campaign which seeks to promote distributed renewable energy (DRE) as the key to achieving universal energy access faster, cheaper and in a more sustainable manner. The campaign provides platform to share information, and provides tools to accelerate the growth of the DRE market. According to a document released by Zimbabwe's Energy Regional Organisation (ZERO), energy is central to sustainable development and is an enabler to health, education, agriculture and improving the nation’s economy at large. The “Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL)” initiative, launched in 2010 by the UN Secretary General, established three ambitious global objectives to be accomplished by 2030: -to ensure universal access to modern energy services, -to double the global rate of improvement in global energy efficiency, and -to double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The initiative envisions a multi-stakeholder approach as being critical to its success, with government, the private sector, and civil society as its three ‘pillars’. Zimbabwe is one of the countries which opted in implementing the SE4ALL Initiative- embracing the global policy and integrate it into local policies. A key pathway associated with opting in is that the country has to carry out country action plans. Of the four ‘Country Action’, Zimbabwe is reported to have  completed the first three.

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