The Potential of Renewable Energy in Mozambique: An Overview

Abstract

Mozambique is endowed with abundant renewable energy resources, but the country is poor in its capability to exploit and use them. Currently, the country faces many challenges with regard to access and quality of energy and there is serious desertification problem in rural areas. About 67% of population live and work in rural areas and 80% of the energy used in the country is in the form of traditional biomass. This leads to serious negative environmental and health impacts. Understanding where the opportunities for tapping this wealth exist and proper technologies for harnessing renewable energy resources is fundamental for economic growth and social development. Thus, this work presents an overview of Mozambique energy situation and the potential of renewable energy resources with focus on four major sources, namely: solar, hydro, wind and biomass. Methodologically, the study uses a comprehensive literature review, several national policy frameworks and statistical data from various official sources. Although the country has enormous potential in renewable energy source, more than 23.000 GW, electricity access rate stands at approximately 40%. Also, the country has one of the highest energy costs in Sub-Saharan as proportion of income. In addition, the legislative framework for energy sector is considered to be largely in place, but implementation and enforcement of the regulatory regime appear to lag behind considerably due to lack of financial resources.

Keywords: renewable energy, biomass, wind, hydropower, solar, climate change

DOI: 10.7176/JETP/11-2-04

Publication date:March 31^st 2021