Access to electricity is a critical element of countries’ economic development in the Southern African region, with low access to grid electricity, ranging from only 18% in Malawi, 40% in Zambia, 41% in Zimbabwe, up to 54% in Namibia in 2018 (World Bank). With financial constraints, high dependency on electricity imports, and with subsidized electricity tariffs, the need for higher efficiency equipment, including refrigerators and distribution transformers (DTs), is crucial as a means to reduce electricity losses and pressure on the grid of these economies in terms of capacity addition and electricity generation and lessen the burden on the governments’ budgets hampering the countries’ electrification potential. For instance, according to CTCN, projected energy savings for Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, when moving from the current state of technologies to MEPS could let alone save up to 860 GWh by 2030 with a full market transformation for both refrigerators and DTs.
BASE in partnership with Southern African Development Community (SADC) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE) and the International Copper Association (ICA) is providing technical services for the implementation of GCF Readiness projects with Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on national frameworks for leapfrogging to energy-efficient appliances and equipment in Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe through regulatory and financing mechanisms. The objectives of the technical assistance projects are to improve the country programming process regarding refrigerators and distribution transformers and strengthen climate finance strategies and pipeline.
The projects aim to put in place mandatory Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and a labeling scheme, which will create an enabling policy and regulatory environment for refrigerators and distribution transformers in Southern Africa. In addition, the projects will include key components such as national policy roadmaps and enabling environments for the implementation of standards and labels, appropriate financing mechanisms to accelerate deployment of energy efficient refrigerators and distribution transformers, and strengthened national capacity to develop standards and labels for other appliances in future.
This will transform markets to energy efficient refrigerators and distribution transformers and ultimately reduce the strain on the electricity grid, increase disposable income for householders and potentially reduce GHG emissions. The activities are being coordinated with similar GCF Readiness projects in four additional Southern African countries and also regional harmonisation efforts, which are being coordinated by UNEP’s United for Efficiency (U4E) initiative.
