SADC urged to consider clean energy tax rebates, duties

... to prop up investment in renewable energy

Southern Africa has been challenged to put in place deliberate incentives to lure and support clean energy investors within the region. The call was made at the first- ever virtual public hearing meeting of the SADC Parliamentary Forum where citizens of the region made submission to different committees of the Forum.

Making a submission before the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources ( FANR) Committee of the SADC PF, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Global Solar Group, Jeffree Rugare said authorities should consider clean energy tax rebates, duties and tax holidays to prop up investment in renewable energy.

He emphasised that a new generation mix with a high percent of renewable energy sources is inevitable considering that Africa has the renewable resources in abundance.

According to Global Solar Group, there is a massive need of clean energy hovering at above 60 percent for Africa, though not being utilised.

“The need is not translating into a ready market because much of the 60 percent in need of clean energy live in marginalised communities and do not have purchasing power,” Rugare said, emphasising that citizens of Africa should be part of the clean energy revolution.

Rugare said though there are institutional gaps at policy level and across the value chain, renewable energy use is bound to increase, calling upon legislators to craft policies and instruments supporting growth of the renewable energy industry. He said renewable energy has potential to instantly change people’s lives and lobbied for policy drivers to put renewable energy at the centre stage of the bloc’s energy mix.

“Yes we are not removing fossil energy overnight but just because it was the first does not mean that it’s the best for us,” Rugare said indicating that the industry has potential to employ more than 50 percent of the young population in Africa by 2050.

“We are having a potential big industry that can deal not only with our energy issues but unemployment too, especially of our youth who contribute the biggest number of our unemployment demographics,” Rugare said.

He highlighted that energy is a catalyst of industrialisation citing that SADC’s industrialisation agenda should be anchored on its energy mix ambitions.

Apart from electricity, Rugare said clean energy development will enhance the transport system through development of electric vehicles and its value chain, calling upon governments to protect and encourage the bloc’s entrepreneurs through policies that advocate for import substitution.

Renewable energy expert at SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency ( SACREEE), Eugenia Masvikeni said the region’s electricity needs are more than what the bloc is producing, hence the need for an energy mix embracing clean energy, to improve security supply.

She however bemoaned that financial institutions in the region have not been supporting start- ups in the renewable energy sector, citing that most funders were not understanding renewable energy.

“Due to lack of awareness about the technology and banks being risk averse, funding for renewable energy projects has been minimum,” Masvikeni said.

Meanwhile Botswana recently announced plans to address future anticipated electricity deficiency though increasing renewable energy in its energy mix and the development has spurred private sector investment in renewable energy. With currently installed capacity of 890MW dominated by coal resources, the country is in the process of rebalancing the power mix by involving the private sector in building additional capacity in renewable energy sources.

The initiatives include exploiting of coalbed methane ( CBM) as part of the country’s forward plan to combat power deficiency.