Uganda is faced with a challenge of huge energy deficit just like many other developing countries in Africa. Currently, only 26.7% of the total population has access to electricity. Energy being the life – blood of any growing economy, subsequent endeavors and strategies need to be put in place in order to expand the use of renewable energies for socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. Uganda being endowed with plenty of solar energy resource, its role in achieving national ambitions of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) cannot be underestimated. This paper therefore reviews the growth of Solar Photovoltaics (PV) in Uganda that was birthed in the 1980’s and continues to mature steadily today contributing 4.24%(50MW) to the national grid with several un documented off – grid systems. This progress has been realized under different market segments inclusive of the pico and macro solar home systems, Institutional PV, mini-grids, telecommunications and street lighting. Notwithstanding the prevalent challenges, there are numerous existing opportunities for solar PV development consisting of the financial, environmental, Institutional and the socio-economic factors. With more government and different stakeholder engagement however, this growth in the country could be accelerated further as the costs of the technology continue to plummet.
The launching of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 has continually advanced the sustainability paradigm across all corners of the globe. While this has led to the fruition of inherent country policies and plans for Uganda, the country is still trailing below the desired rate of attaining SDGs by 2030. The commencement of this decade of action and the proliferating intensity of the current unprecedented health crisis have thus called for heightened emphasis on inclusive sustainable development for the most disproportionately disadvantaged populations of which refugees form part. The pandemic has forced key stakeholders to shift their focus by re-allocating their scarce resources from disadvantaged communities such as refugee camps, thereby exposing them to severe and unacceptable vulnerability. Coupled to this COVID-19 pandemic is the prevalent energy crisis in displacement camps which shall have far-reaching disruptions. Increased energy access in refugee settlements shall help advance the modest progress made so far. This paper therefore highlights the most promising Waste-to-Energy (WtE) options for displacement camps in the Ugandan context which are evaluated based on a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) matrix upon which deductions of anaerobic digestion and briquettes respectively serve as the best ranked options respectively for more inclusive social economic development in these settings.
The Malawi Government regards energy as a life blood of the economy and as such a number of national policy documents have emphasized energy as one of the national priority areas that demand urgent intervention by the government and stakeholders. There is also a consensus that ensuring universal access to modern energy in an energy deficit country will also help improve living standards of people in line with national and global goals. Through a 2018 National Energy Policy, Malawi effectively domesticated the Sustainable Development Goal Seven and the Sustainable Energy for All objectives which among others seek to ensure universal access to modern energy by the year 2030. However, now in the last decade of the 2030 agenda, the country is not yet on the path to achieving the universal access to energy goal despite of having numerous opportunities for reversing the energy poverty trends. Doing a post-mortem is of essence in order to determine prospects and constraints to achievement of the national energy goals and objectives regarding universal access to modern energy. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss the status of energy access to modern energy in the country, the prospects and constraints in relation to energy policy, regulatory environment, institutional capacity, energy resource, capital investment, technology and human resource.
Improper waste management and disposal in major cities of Malawi transpires to be one of the major environmental setbacks as waste remains uncollected and usually disposed in open dump sites. Such waste emits greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere that contribute to global warming and climate change in addition to pollution of water sources. The effects of climate change to Malawi have been far reaching to the extent of experiencing floods and droughts. This in retrospect has also had lasting impacts on Shire River where more than 95% of the country’s electricity is generated. Consequently, the rate of power generation is greatly hindered which has thus left only 11% of the population with access to electricity partly due to droughts. This paper therefore focusses on the capturing of methane from municipal solid waste as a solution to climate change and energy challenges through the utilization of methane, a combustible gas which is beneficial in regard to cooking, heating and electricity generation. This is amplified with particular review of the challenges, opportunities, policy framework in place and the pertinent role of anaerobic digestion as the game changer in climate change mitigation and adaptation in Malawi.
Organic waste in Nairobi City County accounts for 58-63% of the municipal solid waste generated. Food waste is at the center of urban waste management in the city as it accounts for 64% of the recoverable material. The city is estimated to have a food waste generation per capita of 6.1 kilogram per year, which accumulates to 29.4 thousand tons yearly. It transpires that upstream activities of the food supply chain, mainly production, postharvest loss, processing and distribution are the major food waste hotspots, accounting for 95% of the food waste in developing countries. Additionally, downstream activities of the food supply chain show that hotels, restaurants and super markets are the most important food waste hotspots. Such food waste hotspots should become the primary targets for resource recovery in a circular economy. Currently, the exploitation of food waste for animal feed and composting is growing in Nairobi City County, which signifies that food waste is becoming a valuable urban resource that can be traded, thus creating employment. However, the application of food waste for energy recovery through anaerobic digestion is limited in the city due to lack of source separation of municipal solid waste. On average, food waste has a biomethane potential of 508.45 ml CH 4 /g VS. This implies that 29.4 thousand tons of food waste generated in Nairobi City County has the potential to yield 10.5 million m 3 of methane, and will demand a digestion volume of 4,299 m 3 . Using global case studies of electricity generation from biogas, it is estimated that food waste in the city potentially yields 1.38 MW of electricity. In addition, about 26.1 thousand tons of bioslurry can be recovered from the digestion of food waste, which can be used for urban agriculture. Regardless of the liquefied petroleum gas enjoying a tax exemption, biogas at 32.78 USD per gigajoule of delivered energy demonstrates to be more economical, and this can be enhanced by upgrading it. The removal of liquefied petroleum gas from tax-exempt goods through the Finance Act 2020, and an addition of 16% value added tax on the fuel by Kenya Revenue Authority that became effective on 1 st July, 2021 favors biofuels such as methane. However, long term realization of methane generation potential in NCC demands the adoption and implementation of more friendly biofuels policies and regulatory frameworks in the country.
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