By Sylivester Ernest, The Citizen Reporter
(email the author)
Posted Thursday, July 11 2013 at 12:08
Posted Thursday, July 11 2013 at 12:08
In Summary
Released in Dar es Salaam at an inter-parliamentary
hearing on exemplary African forest policies on Tuesday, the study
conducted by Germany-based World Future Council (WFC) and the Heinrich
Boll Foundation shows that Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff policies
(REFiTs) are most successful when they are an integral part of a
country’s wider development strategy.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has a great opportunity
to become more independent from expensive and intermittent energy
imports should it embrace the use of renewable energy sources, a new
study says.
Released in Dar es Salaam at an inter-parliamentary hearing on exemplary African forest policies on Tuesday, the study
conducted by Germany-based World Future Council (WFC) and the Heinrich
Boll Foundation shows that Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff policies
(REFiTs) are most successful when they are an integral part of a
country’s wider development strategy.
The hearing brought together parliamentarians and
policy-makers from Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa,
Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia as well as key civil society actors and experts
in forest policies.
According to the study, high level political
support and strong buy-ins from civil society and the private sector are
crucial factors for the successful development and implementation of
REFiTs. The policy encourages investment in the generation of renewable
energy-from individual home owners and communities as well as big
companies-by guaranteeing to buy and pay for all the electricity that is
produced from renewable sources.
The 155-page report, which is aimed at African
policy makers, civil society and the private sector, provides an
in-depth analysis of existing and drafted REFiTs policies in 13 African
countries including Tanzania.
Other countries are Algeria, Botswana, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South
Africa and Uganda. The study shows that when tailored to local
conditions; REFiTs policies successfully increase the overall energy production of areas both on and off the electricity grid.
The director of WFC Africa office, Ansgar Kiene,
said when releasing the report that the decentralised nature of the
policies provide an opportunity to empower communities and revitalise
local democracy and self-governance by allowing for alternative models
of ownership and governance.
“Tanzania had already
opened its electricity market to independent power producers back in
1992…its experience particularly with min-grids should be seen as an
advantage when it comes to drafting supportive frameworks for the
accelerated renewable energy production,” Mr Kiene said.
The report identifies a variety of national and
international measures to shift financial resources towards renewable
energy uptake. They include levies on fossil fuels and contributions
from the United Nations Green Climate Fund.
The report was released prior to the official
opening of the hearing by Vice President Mohamed Gharib Bilal, who
stressed that contributions to environmental sustainability and poverty
alleviation could only take place with good forest governance - appropriate laws, institutions, policy decisions and practical systems.
The hearing was organised by with the support of
the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the Tanzania Forest
Services Agency, in collaboration with the United Nations Forum on
Forests and the FAO Regional Office for Africa as well as the UNDP.
