Electrification of rural Mozambique : Sustainable energy solutions

The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 states that access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy should be provided for all by 2030. The effects on socioeconomic development by access to safe, affordable, and clean electricity stands out as educational benefits, income improvement, and health progress. However, the electrification rate has been slow for sub-Saharan Africa and Mozambique. Mozambique is one of the poorest countries on earth but has abundant supply of energy resources. The reason for the slow progress in rural electrification is not clear. Possible causes may be lack of basic infrastructure, institutional barriers, and low ability and willingness to pay for energy services. Consequently, there is a general gap between electricity supply and demand. In view of this, the thesis investigates ways to supply sustainable electricity to rural Mozambique. A possibility is to use mini-grid systems connected to small hydropower plants. Other possibilities are photovoltaic systems, and combustion of agricultural waste (such as gasification of cashew nut shells). A reason to use agricultural waste is that a large part of the population, and some 90% of the households, still use this as the main energy source for cooking and heating. It appears that the most promising energy sources at present for rural Mozambique are renewables such as solar power and small-scale hydropower. The solar power used at present is very small. However, there are strong incentives and good opportunities to increase the solar power in remote rural areas. Small-scale hydropower is also a good alternative for off-grid or mini-grid solutions. This study investigates the sustainability of different types of energy sources. This is especially important for solar power systems in view of the use of batteries, heavy metals, and accessibility for theft. Results show that legislation needs to be adapted to the suggested sustainable energy sources. There is a need for better institutional coordination and electrical mini-grids’ regulation. One of the conclusions is that there is an urgent need of taking adequate account of climate change since this will affect both existing and future hydropower projects in Mozambique. There is thus a risk for the future hydropower potential especially small-scale hydropower since these often operate with small or no storage

Hydro Power Potential in Mozambique "CHUA- MANICA"

Hydropower energy is one of most promising clean energy technologies, however this energy technologies has many challenges if compere other renewable energy for example Biomass, solar, wind energy, has high capital investment cost. In Mozambique, access to conversional energy in form of electricity has been limited to most of the rural population. The objective of this investigation research is to analyze the Chua Micro-Hydropower Plant exploration in Manica district in Mozambique and to examine the possibility of increasing energy production. The current total installed power generation capacity in Mozambique is about 939MW. Hydropower contributes 561 MW, making a contribution of 61%, oil contributes 27%, and natural gas 12% of the total electric grid generation in Mozambique (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Climate change effects on hydropower in Mozambique

The impact of climate change on the production of hydropower in Mozambique is reviewed and regression analysis is applied to evaluate future climate scenarios. The results show that climate change will cause increased variability of precipitation and create flooding that can damage infrastructure such as hydropower dams. Climate change can also cause drought that will decrease surface water and reduce hydroelectric generation in Mozambique. Electricity generation is to a major extent performed through large-scale hydropower in Mozambique. To fulfill the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and an increased demand for electricity, several large and many small hydropower projects are planned and were built in the country. The economic lifetime of a hydropower plant is typically 100 years, meaning that the hydrologic regimes for the plants should be evaluated for at least this period. Climate change effects are rarely included in present feasibility studies. Economic implications associated with climate change phenomena are higher in Mozambique than in neighboring countries as its future electricity demand to a large extent is forecasted to be met by hydropower. The large hydropower potential in Mozambique should as well be considered when investing in new power plants in southern Africa