…minister says Lesotho to use 100% renewable energy in three years
Silence Charumbira
The government of the Mountain Kingdom has set an ambitious target of using 100% renewable energy on its grid in the next three years.
Foreign Affairs minister, Lejone Mpotjoane, told Mohokare TV on Thursday that the government’s target was to generate enough electricity from renewable sources to satisfy all its domestic power needs while exporting excess to the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
In an interview on the sidelines of his ministry’s joint tree planting exercise with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China on Thursday morning, Minister Mpotjoane said efforts were afoot to mitigate climate change by stepping up the generation of renewable energy.
Lesotho’s ‘Muela Hydropower plant generates 72 megawatts. The country also generates 30 MW from the Ha Ramathole solar energy plant in Mafeteng while it imports its outstanding power needs from South Africa and Mozambique to satisfy its 160 MW peak demand. It is expected to start generating another 80 MW from the Polihali Dam once construction is completed in 2028.
And Minister Mpotjoane on Thursday said Lesotho’s more than 300 days of sunshine annually gave it huge potential to generate solar energy.
Most of Lesotho was more than 1 000 metres above sea level, and that made it a conducive environment to generate wind energy giving it a variety of sources for generating renewable energy.
Lesotho was already generating solar and hydro energy but it still had a significant deficit which compelled it to import from Mozambique and South Africa.
“We are the water basin for the Sadc region, therefore we have more than adequate water to generate enough hydropower.
“Currently we generate power from hydro and solar. However, we are meeting our deficit by importing power from South Africa and Mozambique but we intend to have 100% renewable energy in the next three years, not just for us but as well as exportation of renewable energy into the Sadc region,” he said.
He said Lesotho used to have trees but the numbers had been reduced due to the culture of cutting down trees and not planting new ones.
“We are rebuilding a new culture of planting more trees for shade, more trees for wood as well as more trees for fruit because we need more fruit trees to build livelihoods for our people.”
The minister said the government was leveraging on its relationship with China to build capacity in tourism, food security and renewable. Therefore, the government was spearheading the planting of trees in the highlands and foothills to stimulate tourism.
