GAZETTE REPORTER
Kgosi Mosalagae Galebonwe was present when clean energy company, African Sun Energy Botswana (ASE), visited an agriculture project at Mokubilo Village this week with community leaders from Jamataka Village to demonstrate the benefits of solar energy in the agricultural sector. The company explained these as mainly reduced operational costs and therefore provision of energy security and increasing profitability.
Mokubilo Farm Project is located in an off-grid community where the Innovative Solar Network project is creating Botswana’s first clean energy hub. The community of Jamataka has a plan to establish a communal commercial farm project that will supply local schools and families with fresh vegetables and even sell to neighbouring communities. “At African Sun Energy Botswana, we hope that helping the community establish this project will go a long way in ensuring that they become self-sufficient,” said African Sun Energy Botswana’s Engineer and Business Development Manager, Amos Chenemani.
“In addition to that, we hope that this will ease the challenges that come with buying electricity and diesel to operate pumps that provide water. The aim is to demonstrate that solar energy, which is very clean and safe for the environment, can be utilized to advance societal and business growth.”
The Mokubilo Farm Project was funded by Lundin Foundation, a Canadian non-profit organization, in partnership with Lucara Botswana. Like the Jamataka Farm Project, the initiative was aimed at sustaining and improving the nutritional status of the villagers. The Jamataka community had the opportunity to see how establishing something similar could work for them to guarantee a generous supply of vegetables for themselves as well.
“The key mandate of this initiative that we are spearheading in Jamataka is to provide our community with the technology and skills to fully utilize solar energy to enhance their way of life,” remarked Robert Hanna, the Director for African Sun Energy Botswana. “With grid electricity becoming more and more expensive and unreliable, Batswana could really benefit from taking advantage of the vast amount of sunlight that they receive.
“We hope that this project can enable us to help push forward two of the nation’s 2036 pillars that support a sustainable environment as well as sustainable economic development. Furthermore, this is an opportunity for us to uplift the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”
Commented Kgosi Mosalagae Galebonwe of Jamataka: “We are very pleased to be beneficiaries of this ground-breaking project. We hope that this is the beginning of great things to come for our village as it signals growth and great business prospects for us,”
About African Sun Energy (Pty) Ltd Botswana African Sun Energy Botswana is an innovative clean energy company that develops new technologies and clean energy services to support implementation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The company was established by Eunice Ntobedzi, an alumnus of the University of Glasgow (Adam Smith Business School). It currently supports the design, building, financing and operation of both on grid/off-grid and grid-tied solutions and that require clean energy.