HORIZON INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONS SITE

The Government of Zimbabwe views electricity as a critical factor in increasing literacy, slow rural-urban migration, and improving the overall quality of life for the country’s rural population of nearly 8 million people who are without access to grid-supplied electricity. Should Zimbabwe resort to its vast reserves of coal for electrical power generation (estimated at 30 billion tons, of which 2 billion tons are exploitable), serious global environmental problems would result. However, small-scale solar electric generation technology is now reliable, inexpensive, and available form a variety of manufacturers worldwide. This technology holds great promise as an alternative to power generation systems that burn fossil fuels and produce greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

The Rural Solar Energy Development Project (RSED) is a direct offshoot of the Area Development Scheme Kordofan (ADS)and was developed as a means of catalyzing renewable energy technology distribution, implementation and commercialization. The goal of RESD is to provide viable solar energy technology to satisfy basic energy needs of rural communities both domestically and publicly; develop a private sector infrastructure for installation and maintenance to support communities; and, institute measures to promote a more favorable climate for market growth.