The Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry in conjunction with the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ), and Development partners (the UNDP and Tetratech) is reviewing International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) technical standards (TS) 62257-9-5 series in order to adopt them.
Speaking to Spiked Online Media during a two-day validation workshop that ended in Harare yesterday, Mr. Isaiah Nyakusendwa, the Chairman of the Renewable Energy Association of Zimbabwe (REAZ) said the reason for the adoption of the technical standards is to improve the quality of products that are being used in Zimbabwe.
He said the standards are for systems that are 350 watts and below – mostly used in the rural areas.
“Quality improvement will also improve quality of life, reduce emissions, and contribute also to Zimbabwe’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The Harare workshop is running concurrently with another group at Holiday in Bulawayo that is also looking into the same issue.
“The process has gone very well with stakeholders effectively validating the adoption of standards. This is expected to bring sanity to the energy sector so people will buy quality products that have warranties and after-sales service. We welcome the need to look at the testing of products to ensure they perform to expectation. We also look forward to institutions doing the testing and processing of these products to ensure that they are verified at the port of entry. It’s a milestone for the sector because there were complaints that players along the value chain were using Zimbabwe as a dumping ground for sub-standard products. Zimbabweans deserve better products and services,” Mr. Nyakusendwa said.
Mr. Lawrence Mashungu, a Climate Change Mitigation Expert in the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry said the development of this standard will go a long way in bringing confidence to the renewable energy products which were negatively affected by the influx of sub-standard products.
“It is our encouragement that our private sector players seek this certification from SAZ on this particular standard so that we bring sanity and confidence in the sector. The Low Emission Development Strategy for Zimbabwe has identified standards as a key strategy to achieve the shift to the low emission development pathways and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change,” Mr. Mashungu said.