By EPN Reporter
Mbabane – Eswatini seeks to use clean energy sources to generate enough power to attract significant investments in many sectors and industries as well as to be a net exporter of energy.
This was said by Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini today when delivering his speech during the Italy-Africa Summit, which is taking place in Rome, Italy.
The premier was addressing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other political leaders who were part of the summit. For this goal to be achieved, Dlamini pleaded with the other states, particularly the developed countries, including Italy, to partner with Eswatini.
Dlamini said there was no doubt that with the guaranteed market, significant benefits awaited those who dared to partner with Eswatini. “We are mindful that the pursuit of advanced technologies and sustainable energy practices will require significant investment,” Dlamini said. He added that European countries, and institutions, were renowned for their support and investment in renewable energy and clean technology initiatives.
“We therefore welcome the holding of this summit as timely. Through institutional frameworks and through bilateral cooperation, we believe that we can collaborate with Europe to our mutual benefit,” he said.
The prime minister told the distinguished gathering that Eswatini faced a myriad of surmountable challenges, like many other developing countries. These challenges, according to Dlamini, were exacerbated by climate change and climate variability, among other compounding factors.
He said Eswatini was grateful for the support from the Italy government for the energy partnership project which involved the construction of a solar plant for one of the country’s health facilities and providing equipment for climate and river monitoring.
Energy security, according to the premier, remained the biggest challenge for Eswatini, and clean energy remained central to both achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
“Eswatini currently generates locally about 15% of its required energy, through renewable means including solar power and hydropower. Green energy generation is the path that Eswatini has chosen hence 100% of locally generated power is renewable energy,” the prime minister said
The balance of the energy requirements, which was about 75 per cent, was imported from Eswatini’s neighbouring countries at a high cost. Besides being unsustainable economically, the premier said its generation was also environmentally unsustainable.
Eswatini, Dlamini said, was faced with the urgency of attaining energy security and needed tremendous improvement in her clean technology local production as well as investment in renewables to attain energy security.
“We are faced with a conundrum to use our abundant natural resources including coal in generating power or to continue draining our economy with unsustainable imports to meet the gap,” he said.
He added that disasters such as prolonged droughts had also exposed the limits of hydropower generations in the environment. They had become more frequent and intense and therefore disruptive to the country’s hydropower generation and reliance.
Thus far, the country has chosen to pursue clean methods of generating power. However time, Dlamini said, was not on the side of Eswatini Government. He therefore declared that the country sought partnerships in generating power to attain energy security and hoped that Eswatini Government could generate interest from forums such as the Italy-Africa Summit.
He said they understood that Europe had advanced technologies for cleaner coal utilisation, and renewables, including carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques.
He was of the view that collaborating with European partners could allow Eswatini to adopt more environmentally friendly power generation methods, reducing emissions and environmental impact. “This transfer of technology is one that could lead to mutual benefit for all parties,” the prime minister concluded.
