By Reporter
Northern Uganda has great potential for renewable energy, which if harnessed, can play an important role in addressing the challenges of energy security, access and affordability. In the coming years, the rising energy demand due to population growth (about 10-12 per cent per year), rapid urbanization and economic development will call for urgent action to exploit the region’s tremendous renewable energy resources. Following our successful “Clean Energy for a Better Life campaign” last year, November 2019 that was climaxed by the Gulu Energy Expo at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu, GIZ-PREEEP in partnership with Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) and Uganda National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Alliance (UNREEEA) is implementing the second phase of the awareness campaign programme “Clean Energy for a Better Life” to bring companies engaged in renewable energy/energy efficiency technologies closer to the consumers such as SMEs and institutions in Northern Uganda (West Nile , Lango and Acholi sub region as well as Soroti district).
As part of the efforts to increase rural electrification, households, businesses and social institutions in Northern Uganda will have an opportunity to be educated on the access and available technologies and products, that promote efficient use of clean energy. This will be during the six-month long clean energy media campaign starting in December 2020 on seven radio stations in Northern Uganda. The radio stations include; Arua One Fm, Radio Pacis in West Nile, Dakolo FM, Unity Fm in Lango, Mega FM , Rupiny Radio in Acholi and Voice OF Teso in Soroti.
The general public is encouraged to look out for messages on clean cooking, energy efficiency for productive use, environmentally friendly technologies and cheaper sources of finances offered by various financial partners to enable them to acquire some of these technologies and improve their live hoods.
The campaign will be majorly on radio stations based in Soroti, Gulu, Lira and Arua that cover the whole Northern Uganda. We shall also make use of several other channels such as billboards, street poles and digital platforms to support the engagement and creation of sustainable conversations around clean energy for a better life.
These activities are a build up to the Lira Clean Energy Expo which will give a platform for renewable energy and energy efficiency products suppliers and financial institutions to showcase and sell their products. The Lira Clean Energy Expo will be similar to the one conducted in Gulu, Some of the products that will be on display will include improved cookstoves for households and institutions, solar home systems, solar water pumps and heaters among others. Participants will be taken through proper usage of the various products so that they last longer.
Esther N. Nyanzi, Chief Executive Officer, The Uganda National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Alliance (UNREEEA) says, “We had a successful expo in Gulu last year and we are excited to do it again in Lira. The expo is part of a bigger, three-year campaign aimed at increasing awareness and eventually uptake of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and increasing private sector investment in these technologies in Northern Uganda. We plan to have this expo next year in Lira as part of the rotation plan to reach all parts of the region.”“The clean energy expos in these towns will advance the government’s efforts through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to tackle the challenge of low levels of awareness of renewable energy and energy efficient solutions, inefficient biomass technologies, the unsustainable use of the available resources and inefficient use of energy,” says Eng. Simon T. Kalanzi, Assistant Commissioner MEMD
“We hope that by the end of the campaign, there will be an increase in the consumption of clean energy in Northern Uganda. Once achieved, this will bring the country closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 7, which seeks to ensure access to affordable reliable sustainable and modern energy for all by the year 2030,” he adds.