Solar panels in key institutions

By Daily Revelation Editor

The Zambian government has announced plans to install solar energy systems in all public universities and colleges nationwide in the coming weeks, saying the initiative is aimed at addressing energy demands and ensuring uninterrupted power supply for academic institutions and other critical public institutions such as hospitals.

This is a positive step in the right direction for the government to take, especially during these critical times of daily 12-hour blackouts the country is enduring. Institutions of higher learning have complained about the havoc these blackouts have had on the academics where certain research assignments and lectures, even studying have proved challenging, and expected to only worsen further as days and months go by.

We feel this move should be prioritised side by side with installation of these systems in hospitals, as opposed to first prioritising the former just on account of the potential noise they are able to generate as these blackouts continue.

Recently, we carried a very sad story where a couple in Lundazi lost their child who was receiving breathing aid via an oxygen machine, having contracted pneumonia, but because the hospital was being affected by load shedding and the standby genset ran out of disease, the child died. Parents could only watch helplessly as their daughter’s health deteriorated unto death.

Therefore these solar panels if successfully implemented, would safeguard these critical institutions from energy shocks now and in the future. But systems will need to be put in place as the project is being rolled out using public resources, to ensure maintenance and proper care of these systems, so as to avoid having to spend more public funds on the same projects later on in the future.

The general policy by Zesco is that critical institutions like learning institutions and hospitals must be spared from load shedding. However, this is something the utility company has said it can’t guarantee during this period, and therefore leaving everything to ‘lady mercy.’ The move from the government should therefore be commended. But the government should ensure speedy implementation of the same and also efficient utilisation of the resources for the same exercise. Surely, during such challenging times the country is facing, it will be a betrayal if some engage in self-seeking of wanting to benefit monetarily from an activity born out of a sad situation.

Zambians must demand transparency from the administration in the manner they will go about giving out contracts for the procurement and installation of the same solar panels. We don’t want to hear about the same single-sourcing that has become so prevalent, especially in this administration, which mainly go towards a select few companies and individuals of some well-connected individuals to the powers that be in government.

Zambians are urged to keep a keen eye on this project so that it fulfils a genuine purpose of ensuring uninterrupted power supply in critical institutions. Transparency is therefore cardinal in this regard.