Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Overview of the Malawi energy situation and A PESTLE analysis

for sustainable development of renewable energy
Collen Zalengera a,b,n,1, Richard E. Blanchard a, Philip C. Eames a, Alnord M. Juma b,
Maxon L. Chitawo b, Kondwani T. Gondwe b
a
Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
b
Mzuzu University, Private bag 201, Luwinga Mzuzu 2, Malawi

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents an overview of the Malawi energy situation and the potential of renewable energy
Received 26 June 2013 resources including solar, wind, biomass, hydro and geothermal. Despite a range of efforts by local and
Received in revised form international stakeholders to increase access to modern energy sources in the country, 89 per cent of
7 May 2014
Malawi's energy is still sourced from traditional biomass mainly fuel wood. Only 8 per cent of the
Accepted 17 May 2014
Available online 21 June 2014
population in Malawi have access to electricity but installed capacity of electricity generation is lower
than demand. This leads to load shedding by the electricity supplier; consequently electricity supply in
Keywords: Malawi is unreliable and micro and macroeconomic activities are significantly affected. Solar, non-
Energy situation traditional biomass (crop residues and forest residues not burnt on three stone fireplaces, and biogas),
Renewable energy
hydro, wind and geothermal are potential energy resources that could enhance Malawi's energy security.
PESTLE analysis
However, unreliable financing mechanisms for large scale energy projects; shortage of trained human
Malawi
resource; lack of coordination among local institutions; unclear regulation enforcement; and sometimes
political governance impede sustainable delivery of energy projects. The Malawi energy policy targets
and drivers are also discussed in the paper. Based on the prevailing energy situation, a PESTLE analysis is
provided in this paper outlining a novel thinking for addressing the political (P), economic (E), social (S),
technological (T), legal (L), and environmental (E) challenges that constrain the development of
renewable energy technologies in Malawi.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
2. Installed generation capacities of energy technologies in Malawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
3. Malawi's energy balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
4. Malawi's energy policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
5. Renewable energy resources and advances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
5.1. Solar resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
5.2. Wind resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
5.3. Biomass resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
5.4. Hydropower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
5.5. Geothermal energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
6. Challenges for the energy supply industry in Malawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
6.1. Increasing energy-demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
6.2. Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
6.3. Human resource and training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

n
Corresponding author. Present address (until October 2014): Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering,
Loughborough University, United Kingdom. Tel.: þ 44 1509635339; mobile: þ 44 7721094299.
E-mail addresses: C.Zalengera@lboro.ac.uk, czalengera@mzuni.ac.mw (C. Zalengera), R.E.Blanchard@lboro.ac.uk (R.E. Blanchard), P.C.Eames@lboro.ac.uk (P.C. Eames),
alnord.juma@yahoo.com (A.M. Juma), maxonchitawo@yahoo.co.uk (M.L. Chitawo), kondwanithapasila@yahoo.com (K.T. Gondwe).
1
Permanent address: Mzuzu University, Private bag 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu 2, Malawi.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.05.050
1364-0321/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
336 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

6.4. Regulation and governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

7. A PESTLE approach for developing renewable energy systems in Malawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
7.1. Political . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
7.2. Economic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
7.3. Social . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
7.4. Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
7.5. Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
7.6. Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
8. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

1. Introduction 2. Installed generation capacities of energy technologies

in Malawi
Malawi is a land-locked country located in south eastern Africa
and lies between 32.51E and 35.91E longitudes; and 9.31S and Table 2 shows estimated installed capacities of the energy tech-
17.11S latitudes. The country is bordered by Tanzania to the north, nologies. Estimates of solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and biogas are
Zambia to the west and Mozambique to the south and east. based on informal surveys and varying unpublished information due
An extract of the country's demography is shown in Table 1. to the lack of a reliable information management system for energy
The country earns over 80 per cent of export earnings from statistics for the country. The whole of the large hydro and 4.35 MW of
agriculture, which also provides over 85 per cent of employment the small hydro is owned by the Electricity Supply Corporation of
and contributes about 35 per cent of GDP, second to Services at 46 per Malawi (ESCOM). The fossil-fuel run generators include 750 kW for
cent; manufacturing contributes only 19 per cent of GDP [6]. About Likoma Island 300 kW for Chizumulu Island and 1.1 MW standby for
50 per cent of Malawians live below US$2 per person per day [6]. Mzuzu (all owned by ESCOM) and excludes diesel-run generators
Despite the social growth reported in [7], there is a unanimous privately owned by institutions and companies. There are 289
consensus in the country that low access to and poor modern energy privately owned diesel-run generators registered with the Malawi
limit economic development. Therefore, the overall aim of this paper is Energy Regulatory Authority. The privately owned diesel-run genera-
to review the energy situation facing Malawi in the light of limited tors add up to 52 MW which includes 10.2 MW for the Kayerekela
access to modern energy services and the need to develop these uranium mine. The biomass based electricity generators are privately
services making use of renewable energy technologies. The objectives owned by the only sugar producing company, Illovo; and as at 2013
are to present data on the current energy mix for Malawi, to outline the generators were not feeding into the grid yet. The ethanol is
the current energy policies for Malawi; to review the renewable produced from sugarcane molasses (by-product from sugar making at
energy resources that are available, and to analyse challenges to the Illovo) by two private companies namely Ethanol Company and
development of energy infrastructure along with provision of clear cut Prescane Limited. The PV, biogas and wind systems are mainly
options. The paper complements recent works of Gondwe et al. [8], standalone household and/or institutional systems in schools, rural
Kaunda [9], Gamula [10] and Tenthani et al. [11]. It is intended that this healthcare centres, remote offices, and tourist accommodation places.
paper provides a concise reference of energy resources and technology
options for Malawi which is difficult to find in one piece as yet. The
novel contribution of this work is the PESTLE analysis which has been 3. Malawi's energy balance
laid out to envision the long-term supporting mechanisms for renew-
able energy delivery for Malawi based on political (P), economic (E), Most recent detailed studies of energy consumption in Malawi
social (S), technological (T), legal (L), and environmental (E) criteria. were conducted in 2008 but it is unlikely that the energy statistics
The organisation of the paper is as follows: Section 2 presents the have changed significantly between 2008 and 2014. The gross
installed capacities of energy technologies; Malawi's energy balance is energy consumption for Malawi was 156,295 TJ in 2008 [16]. Fig. 1
presented in section 3, and section 4 outlines the Malawi Energy shows the energy consumption by sectors and Fig. 2 shows the
Policy; whilst the potential renewable energy resources, challenges for energy consumption by category of sources.
the energy sector, and the PESTLE analysis for delivery of renewable It can be seen from Fig. 1 that households contribute over 80
energy technologies are discussed in sections 5–7 respectively. The per cent to the energy demand, whilst Fig. 2 shows that traditional
conclusion is set out in section 8. The data presented is based on biomass is the major source of energy in Malawi. Overdependence on
reports from government and public institutions of Malawi, a range of traditional biomass has resulted in wood demand surpassing sustain-
online resources and first-hand information by the involvement of the able wood supply by more than 3.7 million tonnes per annum [18].
authors in the Malawi energy sector. Necessary measures were taken Electricity is supplied by a sole state owned Electricity Supply
to ensure that reference is made to the most recent documents and Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) which is also the grid operator.
data; but this may be limited by overdue official reviews for the Hydropower contributes 99 per cent of grid electricity; 98 per cent
country. of this is generated along the Shire River. The electricity generation
capacity is lower than demand: with only 8 per cent of Malawians
accessing grid electricity services [6,19], the electricity supplier is still
Table 1
compelled to carryout load-shedding. Petroleum products are exclu-
Demography extract for Malawi.
sively imported, except that the country produces ethanol which is, in
Total Area 118, 484 km2 [1] one part, intended for blending with petrol in the ratio of 20:80
Population 15.91 million [2] [13,10] although in practice the blending ratio was 10:90 as at June
Population growth rate 2.8 per cent [3]
2013 [10,15,9]. About 60,000 t of coal is produced every year. Some of
Access to grid electricity 8 per cent [4]
GDP per capita (PPP) US$800 [5] the coal is used in local industries such as tobacco processing, and
breweries and another proportion is exported to Tanzania. Most of the
 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347 337

Table 2 Overall Urban Rural

Installed generation capacities of energy technologies for Malawi. 100
90
Technology Installed Capacity
80
a
Large-scale hydro 345.5 MW [12,13] 70
Small-scale hydro 5.8 MW [12,13,9]

Percentage
Thermal electricity (fossil 2.15 MW [12,13] 60
fuel driven turbines) 50
Solar PV 47000 installations (  1 MW) [14]
Wind No reliable data available but o 1 MW 40
Biogas Around 40 fixed dome (  120 m3 mainly using 30
cow dung; one 12 m3 using human waste)
Biomass (sugarcane bagasse) 18 MW [15] 20
Ethanol 18 million l per annum [13,9] 10
a
This includes the Kapichira 64 MW which was commissioned in January 2014. 0
Electricity Paraffin Candles Firewood Others

2% Fig. 3. Distribution of energy sources for household lighting for Malawi in 2008—
adapted from [3].

2%
4%
1% 1%
8%
Houshold 2%
8%

Agriculture

Firewood
Transport
Electricity
Indutsry Charcoal

Other Paraffin
84% 88% Other
Fig. 1. Malawi's energy consumption by sectors in 2008—adapted from [17,16].
Fig. 4. Distribution of energy sources for household cooking for Malawi in 2008—
adapted from [3].
2%
0.2%
2.8%
6% Malawi yet. Paraffin and firewood are the major sources of lighting
Traditional and cooking respectively for households. Figs. 3 and 4 show the
Biomass distribution of energy sources for lighting and cooking respectively at
household level.
Liquid Fuels
Fig. 4 shows that firewood and charcoal are used by 96 per cent
Hydro of the population in total for cooking. The Malawi energy policy
Electricity aims to reduce the country's reliance on traditional energy sources
by increasing access to modern energy sources. Therefore, the next
89% Coal section outlines the energy policy along with the drivers which
have been established to help the country meet the policy targets.
New
renewables
Fig. 2. Malawi's energy consumption by source in 2008—adapted from [16]. 4. Malawi's energy policy

manufacturing and processing industries in Malawi are located in Malawi's Energy Policy attributes the energy supply problems
southern region which is closer to Mozambique from where the and the energy balance presented in the previous sections to three
industries easily import part of their coal demands. New2 renewable factors as outlined in the Malawi Vision 2020 [21]. These are:
energy technologies in Malawi include off-grid solar photovoltaic
systems, small off-grid wind turbines and fixed-dome biogas systems (i) Inadequate, unaffordable, unreliable and inaccessible electri-
mainly installed in rural communities. Uranium mining was also city due to monopolistic structures, under-developed services,
started in 2010. Over 670 t of uranium was produced in 2011 [20] poor management, lack of competition and cultural inertia;
but all uranium is exported; there are no nuclear power plants in (ii) Over dependence on imported and relatively high cost pet-
roleum products; and
(iii) Over dependence on fuel wood largely produced from indi-
2
The term is used to differentiate from large hydro which has been used in genous forests with aggregate consumption exceeding levels
Malawi since the 60s. of sustainable fuel wood yields by about 30 per cent.
338 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

The Energy Policy aims to address the energy supply problems (v) The establishment of the Test and Training Centre for Renew-
by: able Energy Technologies (TCRET), though not operational as
yet, at Mzuzu University; and
(i) Improving efficiency and effectiveness of the commercial (vi) Removal of duty and surtax on importation of renewable
energy supply industries; energy technology equipment.
(ii) Improving the security and reliability of energy supply
systems; Despite the above reforms, by 2010 the energy balance of
(iii) Increasing access to affordable and modern energy Malawi comprised around 89 per cent biomass compared to the
services; and target of 75 per cent biomass usage for the same year. Owen et al.
(iv) Improving energy sector governance; and mitigating environ- [16] projected that Malawi will still source up to 82 per cent of its
mental, safety, and health impacts of energy production and energy from biomass in 2020 which would be an underperfor-
utilisation. mance based on the targets shown in Fig. 5.
Most recently, in 2012, a feed-in tariff (FIT) policy [22] was
The energy-mix targets for Malawi are shown in Fig. 5. The introduced for renewable generated electricity to accelerate pri-
base year is 2000. vate sector investment in renewable energy technologies. The
In order to achieve the targets shown in Fig. 5, the objectives of tariffs were set as follows:
Policy are set as follows:
a. US$0.20 and US$0.10 per kWh for firm and non-firm power
(a) Exploitation of other hydropower sites and developing coal respectively generated from solar PV;
and biomass thermal plants; b. US$0.13 per kWh for electricity generated from wind;
(b) Interconnection with neighbouring countries; c. US$0.10 – US$0.13 per kWh and US$0.08-US$0.12 per kWh for
(c) Research and Development (R&D) into new fuel-ethanol firm and non-firm power respectively for electricity generated
applications; from small hydro depending on the size;
(d) Promotion of the use of affordable alternative energy sources d. US$0.08 per kWh and US$0.10 per kWh for firm and non-firm
for all fuel wood users through capital subsidies, tax breaks, power respectively for electricity generated from biomass
technical and institutional support for market priming activ- including biogas; and
ities involving Renewable Energy Technologies Industries; and e. US$0.105 per kWh for power generated from geothermal.
(e) Acceleration of rural electrification.
Given the energy policy, the next section discusses the available
Therefore, a number of reforms have been implemented after potential of renewable energy resources in Malawi; and notable
the formulation of the energy policy in 2003. These include: advances in utilisation of the renewable energy resources.

(i) The establishment of the regulation act 2004 which lead to

the formation of the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority 5. Renewable energy resources and advances
(MERA), and energy regulation laws 2008;
(ii) The establishment of the rural electrification fund through the 5.1. Solar resource
rural electrification act 2004, and rural electrification regula-
tions 2008; Average solar irradiation in Malawi on an horizontal surface is
(iii) Permitting private sector to invest in generation, transmission 5.8 kWh/m2 per day [13]. Fig. 6 shows typical monthly solar
and distribution of electricity through the electricity act 2004, irradiation for Malawi.
electricity by-laws 2008, and public private partnership Based on the average minimum and the average maximum
arrangement; irradiation shown in Fig. 6, the potential solar energy on a
(iv) The establishment of the liquid and gas fuels act 2004, and horizontal surface ranges from 1642.5 to 2555 kWh/m2 per
liquid and gas regulations 2008 to regulate the licensing, annum. It should be noted that on an inclined surface which is
pricing, taxation, and safety in the production, supply and the usual way of installing solar energy collectors, the irradiation
storage of liquid and gas fuels; could be higher than on a horizontal surface by about 2 per cent on
average and about 20 per cent in winter months. At 15% module
Biomass Liquid fuels Hydro electricity efficiency, the available irradiation can yield over 6000 GWh per
annum from less than 2% (18 km2) of the country's land area
Coal New renewables Nuclear
compared to an electricity consumption of 1900 GWh in 2011 [12].
100
The potential energy yield could be higher from solar thermal
90 collectors which normally operate at efficiencies ranging between 30
80 to 60 per cent [24]; thus giving greater prospects for solar thermal
70 applications including concentrated solar power (CSP). Water heating
Percentage

60 and cooking contribute a significant amount of the electricity demand

in the country as evidenced by the load shedding which is usually
50
scheduled at times of cooking and water heating from early mornings
40 to midday and early evenings. Solar thermal applications for water
30 heating and cooking have potential to offset a significant amount of
20 the electricity demand on the grid power system and thus reduce
10 pressure on the grid network which would lead to better electricity
services for industry and households. Thermal applications also have
0
potential to reduce demand for fuel wood. Because solar irradiation
2000 2010 2020 2050
peaks at around midday, a time when most people in Malawi prepare
Year
lunch, solar thermal applications for cooking can coincide with
Fig. 5. Malawi's energy-mix projections (2000 values are actual)—adapted from [13]. demand.
 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347 339

Bvumbwe Chichiri Chileka Chitipa Nkhotakota Salima

8 Chileka Ngabu
Irradiation in kWh/m 2 /day

7 7.0
6.0
6

Wind speed in m/s

5.0
5 4.0
4 3.0
3 2.0
1.0
2 0.0

Nov-04

Nov-05

Nov-06

Nov-07

Nov-08
Jul-05

Jul-06

Jul-07

Jul-08
Mar-05

Mar-06

Mar-07

Mar-08
1
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month of the year
Month of the year
Fig. 7. Four years monthly average wind speeds at 2 m height for five selected
Fig. 6. Monthly mean solar irradiation from three weather stations for Malawi- stations for Malawi—based on measured data from the Department of Climate
based on 2010 measured data from the Department of Climate Change and Change and Meteorological Services.
Meteorological Services [23].

Solar thermal water heating systems are already in use by a few Table 3
healthcare centres, mission centres and a few households but Malawi's potential energy from agriculture residues.
require up-scaling and broadening the application to other facil-
Crop Annual Residue to Residue Annual Potential
ities such as boarding schools where demand for firewood or
production product type crop heating energy
electricity for cooking and water heating per property is likely to (MT) [27,28] ratio (RPR) [29,30] residues (GJ/annum)a
be higher. Advances of solar PV in Malawi include six isolated [29,30] (MT)
mini-grid PV systems which were implemented as hybrid systems
with wind turbines on a scale of 25 kW each (15 kW from Solar Maize 3,900,000 1.5 Stalk 5,850,000 90,558
Tobacco 138,000 1 Stalk 138,000 2222
PV) supplying about 150 household each [25], whilst stand-alone
Coffee 1500 2.1 Husk 3150 40
PV systems continue to be installed in rural health centres, schools Rice 79,000 1.5 Straw 118,500 1844
and households since the onset of the Barrier Removal to Renew- Cassava 4,300,000 0.2 Stalk 860,000 15,050
able Energy Project in Malawi (BaRREM) in 2002 which phased Cotton 32,550 3.5 Straw 113,925 2039
Total 8,451,050 7,083,575 111,752
out in 2008. Some charity organisations, for example, World Vision
use PV systems for water pumping to supply piped water to rural a
Potential heating energy is calculated using heating values of the crop
communities. These efforts can be supplemented with large scale residues from [29,30,31,32,33,34].
PV systems which can feed into the grid and thus significantly
improving the energy security and reducing uncertainties arising country's weather stations; as of 2013 only 3 out of 22 weather
from overreliance on the hydropower-generation. The biggest stations took wind measurements at 10 m height [26]. Major
milestone in the application of PV systems in Malawi is the developments in the Malawi's wind energy is the work of the
850 kW grid-connected system at Kamuzu International Airport Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme (MREAP)
in Lilongwe which was commissioned in September 2013. which identified two sites for potential wind farms in Mzimba
and Rumphi districts by use of WRF Mesoscale Modelling and
5.2. Wind resource constraints mapping [26]; installation of wind masts for detailed
wind speed measurements at the identified sites was planned for
Fig. 7 shows a plot of monthly mean wind speed, at 2 m height, April 2013. The government continued to install small wind
between Jan 2005 and December 2008 for five selected stations; turbines to a capacity of 10 kW as part of hybrid systems with
Chitipa from the north, Nkhotakota and Salima from the central, solar PV for rural electrification projects.
and Chileka and Ngabu from the south of Malawi. It can be seen
from Fig. 7 that for the five stations the monthly mean wind 5.3. Biomass resource
speeds are above 2 m/s for a significant period. The wind speeds
peak in July until October remaining above 3 m/s. It should be Malawi typically produces over 7 million tonnes of both crop
noted that the peaking of the wind speed coincides with a time residues and livestock dung per year. Tables 3 and 4 show
when rivers' levels and the water table have gone down necessi- estimates of potential energy from crop residues and livestock
tating water pumping for household water supply and agricultural dung respectively.
irrigation. During the same period, atmospheric temperatures are Crop residues such as rice husks (shown in Fig. 8) can be
high necessitating space cooling; thus there is high probability of compressed into briquettes or pellets for use in improved cook-
wind energy generation coinciding with demand. stoves for heating and cooking. At 15 per cent conversion effi-
The wind speeds shown in Fig. 7 are viable for mechanical ciency for improved cook-stoves [38], crop residues could provide
water pumping and for small scale electricity generation probably up to 16,762 GJ of energy per annum, while biogas could provide
at hub heights of more than 10 m above the ground due to up to 6941 GJ at 30 per cent biogas stove efficiency [39,40]. There
minimised sheltering effects and reduced effects of terrain rough- is also potential for biogas from municipal solid waste especially
ness at higher heights. But further analysis using, for example, the from cities where waste collection is significantly high. Potential
Weibull distribution and hourly wind speed data would be energy recovery processes from the biomass resources produced
essential to determine achievable capacity factors for the potential in Malawi are shown in Fig. 9.
wind energy systems. Comprehensive countrywide wind resource Malawi also produces a significant quantity of forest residues
mapping is also required due to the unreliability and uncertainties from forest plantations. The plantations were established in
of wind speed measurement at 2 m height in the majority of the the1960s when it became apparent that the indigenous forest
340 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

Table 4 Crop/Forest Animal Dung Sewerage Industrial Waste

Malawi's potential energy from livestock dung.
Residues

Livestock type Populations Potential Potential Potential

[35] dung biogas energy Briquetting/ Process Anaerobic
production production (GJ/annum) pelletizing Technologies digestion
(Tonnes/ (1000 m3/
annum)a annum)a
Briquettes/ Combustible Biogas
Cattle 1,110,560 3,242,835 74,585 1611 Pellets Products
Goats 4,442,907 1,621,661 25,947 560
Steam turbines/gas
Sheep 228,649 83,457 1335 29 Improved End-use/conversion
engine/gas burners
Pigs 2,160,670 1,577,289 63,092 1363 cookstoves Technologies
Chickens 44,672,086 1,304,425 847,876 18,314
Ducks 1,014,869 29,634 19,262 416 Heat Output Energy Electricity/heat
Rabbits 1,022,864 57,280 10,649 230
Guinea Fowls 1,350,585 39,437 25,634 554 Fig. 9. Viable energy conversion routes for Malawi's biomass.
Turkey 145,486 4248 2761 60
Total 56,148,676 7,960,267 1,071,142 23,137

a
Potential dung and biogas production including the potential heating ener-
gies were calculated using dung and biogas factors, and heating value of 21.6 MJ for
biogas from [36,37].

Fig. 10. Stack of residues from a single tree after logs have been extracted—Source
(Chamayere, unpublished).

Each hectare in the Viphya plantations consists of 1000 stands

of pine trees. With the current harvesting practice, a minimum of
Fig. 8. Rice husks left to decay at a rice milling centre in Karonga, Malawi. 6 t of barks are produced per hectare and left on the field as
residues [44]. RAIPLY, one of the wood processing companies in
resources would not sustain the local and export need for timber. Malawi, which has a concession with the Malawi Government for
In total the Malawi Government owns 73,000 ha of timber harvesting 20,000 ha of the Viphya Plantations, harvests 200 ha
plantations and about 26,000 km2 of indigenous forest reserves from the concessional area per year. 450 m3 of wood are processed
[41,42]. About 68,000 ha of the timber plantations are planted per day from which 225 m3 of wood wastes are generated. In one
with pine trees, with a few pockets of cypress and cedar tree year RAIPLY generates 61,875 m3 of wood residues. If the forest
species; the remaining plantation areas are under eucalyptus residues were used to generate electricity, a 3.5 MWe power plant
aimed at providing fuel wood and poles [41]. Although there is could sustainably be supplied with the residues throughout a year;
restriction of access into these forest plantations, until recently, this figure can be extended up to over 20 years if trees' harvesting
dead trees were being collected as firewood free of charge. In areas is properly matched with replanting taking into account the
where forest plantations are being harvested for timber produc- maturity age of 25–30 years for pine trees. The other residue that
tion, forest residues have become a major energy resource with is available in large quantities in forest plantations in Malawi but
most of it being transported long distances for selling in urban remains under-utilised is saw dust. Saw dust is a potential raw
centres. During harvesting of mature stands of trees for timber material for production of briquettes and pellets. Yet, saw dust
production, saw millers normally are interested in particular from timber production and primary and secondary wood proces-
portions of a stand to meet specific requirements. As a result sing industries is left to decay or just set on fire. At the rate of
almost one-third of the tree remains in the field as residues when 450 m3/day of fresh wood being processed into timber, there is
the trees are harvested using efficient equipment [43]. In the untapped potential of producing briquettes from the saw dust
Malawi's Viphya plantations, the largest forest plantation in east which could reduce demand for charcoal and firewood.
and southern Africa, covering about 53,000 ha [41]; it is estimated, Despite the availability of the enormous biomass resource there
by the Viphya Plantations management, that 75 to 80 per cent of a are challenges to its utilisation. Transportation logistics are diffi-
tree sawn by small scale sawyers remains in the field. These cult due to poor road infrastructure in some of the biomass
residues include tops, branches, barks and stumps. Fig. 10 shows a producing areas, especially during the rainy season. Collection of
stack of tops from a single tree and Fig. 11 shows a stack of semi dung and crop residues is also an issue due, in part, to the free-
round barks loaded for disposal after the logs are extracted in the range system of livestock farming by a significant number of
Viphya Plantations. farmers and sparsely distributed smallholder farmers, each farmer
 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347 341

Table 5
Untapped hydropower potential in Malawi [45,46].

Name of Site Planned Year of Electricity

River Site Development Generation
Potential (GW)

Songwe Mavolo 2020 0.16

South Rukuru Lower and high Fufu 2020 0.42
Dwambazi Chimgonda 2040 0.05
Bua Chizuma, Chasombo, 2040 0.21
Malenga, and Mbongozi
Shire Kholombidzo 2025 0.28
Shire Mpatatmanga 2035 0.3
Ruo Zoa 2050 0.05
Other – 0.008
Total 1.478

Fig. 11. Semi round planks (barks) loaded for disposal—(Chamayere, unpublished).
Table 6
A selection of geothermal sites for Malawi.
owning a small number of animals and producing small quantities
of crops. Studies in other countries indicate that availability factors Name District of location Average
surface-water Temp (1C)
of the livestock dung for energy production can range from 0.05 to
0.8 of the total dung produced [37] depending on the type of Mphizi Rumphi 82
livestock and the livestock husbandry practices. Chiwi Nkhotakota 76
One of the successful efforts in biomass energy was the Mtomdoro Nkata Bay 72
promotion of wood-saving stoves by the Programme for Basic Mawira 1 Nkhotakota 67
Mawira 3 Nkhotakota 65
Energy and Conservation (ProBEC), which phased out in 2010. Mawira 4 Nkhotakota 64
At the time of its phasing out (due to end of project funding), the Chombo Nkhotakota 64
project had achieved significant adoption and diffusion of the Mawira 5 Nkhotakota 63
efficient stoves. Over 90 private and community based entrepre- Ling'ona Nkhotakota 61
Ngara 1 Karonga 59
neurship groups were trained in production of the efficient stoves
Ngara 2 Karonga 55
through the project [38]. The entrepreneur groups along with July village Chikwawa 55
other non-governmental organisations continue the production Chipwidzi 1 Nkhotakota 54
and promotion of the energy efficient stoves for use in households Mukungwi Karonga 52
and institutions. Other non-traditional biomass projects include Mwankenja 2 Karonga 51
Mwankenja 1 Karonga 50
the promotion of biomass briquettes through training of briquette Mawira 2 Nkhotakota 50
producers by the Government's Promotion for Alternative Energy Sitima Balaka 50
Sources Project (PAESP); construction of household biogas diges-
ters in Mzimba and Nkhatabay districts by Mzuzu University; and
promotion of biogas digesters through the Malawi Renewable
Energy Acceleration Programme (MREAP) in Mchinji district. From the surface temperature, Ts; temperature (Tz) of a hot
spring at a depth z for a temperature gradient G, can be calculated
using Tz ¼Ts þGz [47,48]. The literature in [49,47,48] recommends
5.4. Hydropower
generation of electricity from geothermal sites with temperatures
above 150 1C using Organic Rankine cycle steam turbines; and
Malawi has 1.478 GW of unexploited hydropower from rivers
extracting heat for industrial processes and/or space heating or
spread across the country [45,15]; which is four times the installed
cooling using ground heat pumps from sites with temperatures
capacity of the hydro generation in 2014. Table 5 shows the
between 40 1C and 150 1C. It can be seen that, even without
locations and sizes of potential hydropower sites in the country
drilling into the ground, the surface-water temperatures at the
and projected time frames for development of the sites.
sites listed in Table 6 are viable for process and space heating.
It can be shown from Table 5 that 40 per cent of the unexploited
Based on data from other geothermal sites on the African great rift
hydro resource is on the Shire River. However, with 98 per cent of
valley which is where the Malawi hot springs lie; it is predicted
Malawi's electricity already generated on the Shire, development of
that temperature gradients of 100 1C/km could be observed and
additional hydroelectricity schemes on the river should be justified by
the geothermal resource for Malawi is estimated at 200 MW [8].
detailed risk analysis as one way of ensuring energy security in the
The geothermal resource potential in Malawi has not been
country; otherwise sites located on other rivers should be prioritised
exploited; however, a few hot springs are used for supplying hot
in future development of hydro generation schemes. Hydro is the
water to nearby villages for domestic use. In other sites, people use
most developed renewable energy resource in Malawi.
the hot water at the pools directly for bathing and washing
clothes. Planning for a 30 MW plant in Nkhotakota started in
5.5. Geothermal energy 2012. It is claimed that the 30 MW plant would be upgraded to
100 MW [8] which is not consistent with the estimated potential
A recent geothermal exploration conducted by Gondwe [8] of 200 MW from over 50 sites considering that the surface
shows that there are over 50 known hot springs in Malawi with 18 temperature for the planned site is not the highest of the
hot springs having an average surface temperature above 50 1C. identified geothermal sites. Further measurements and analyses
Some selected hot springs are shown in Table 6. are needed to validate the claims.
342 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

Although there is a range of renewable energy resources in would show a high growth-rate at the beginning slowing down
Malawi; sustainable development of renewable energy technolo- with time as households reach saturation of household electrical
gies in Malawi is hindered by a number of challenges. These are appliances and industrialisation fully realised, leaving population
presented in the next section. growth rate as the only major factor dictating energy demand.
With the country's population growing, estimated at 15.91 million
in 2013 from 13 million in 2008, it also means that the demand for
6. Challenges for the energy supply industry in Malawi firewood for cooking and many other energy services is growing
significantly and thus adds pressure to the limited energy infra-
Challenges affecting the energy supply industry of Malawi structure and resources.
include but one not limited to increasing energy-demand, lack of
finance for large scale energy projects, shortage of trained human 6.2. Financing
resource, poor governance, weak legislation and weak regulatory
framework. The challenges are discussed as follows. Malawi's weak economy constrains the financing of large scale
energy projects. Even small scale energy projects suffer from
6.1. Increasing energy-demand uncertainties of financing for operation and maintenance costs.
Small and medium scale projects are funded from fuel levies
In view of the low energy per capita consumption and account- which are in turn constrained by the low fossil fuel per capita
ing for the positive correlation between electricity and energy consumption due to limited number of vehicles and limited
consumption with GDP [50,51] it is clear that growing the industrial activities in the country. So most of the large-scale
economy and improving living standards in Malawi will result in projects depend on financing from multilateral organisations and
increased energy demand. For example, the minimum electricity donations from external governments; this is not sustainable
demand to meet the total population's household energy services considering the global economic crisis affecting potential devel-
alone is estimated at 700 MW [15]. Based on the 2008 census, opment partners to Malawi. Sometimes, it also occurs that
there were about 2,870,000 households. It is likely that if all external funding has many conditions attached, particularly on
households were connected to the grid and had enough income to governance and human rights issues, some of which conflict with
purchase basic electrical appliances such as refrigerators, cookers, the social and cultural heritage of Malawi, raising fears on the
and TV; the peak electricity demand by households alone could be sustainability of funding from international development partners
over 3 GW. The Malawi government also estimates that the especially if Malawi decides to defend its position on social and
minimum electricity energy demand for irrigation agriculture cultural heritage. For example, there have been cases where
under the planned green belt initiative is 130 MW whereas the external governments have frozen funding for projects because
electricity demands for the booming mining sector; heath, educa- of Malawi's position on certain minority rights criticised by the
tion, banking, ICT services and offices; and manufacturing and majority of Malawians as not being representative of the culture of
processing; are estimated at 800 MW, 500 MW, and 700 MW Malawi, but the concerned development partners argued that the
respectively [15] which totals to 2830 MW. Fig. 12 shows electri- actual reason was poor governance and they claimed that the
city demand-growth projections by the Department of Energy Malawi Government was misinforming its citizens. In the Govern-
Affairs. ment's Barrier Removal to Renewable Energy Projects funded by
The projections shown in Fig. 12 are likely to have been the Global Environment Facility (GEF), one of the objectives that
underestimated considering Malawi's low access to electricity were not fully addressed was the identification of viable financing
which has remained at 8 per cent since 2010; load shedding mechanisms for renewable energy technologies; and this con-
carried out by the country's electricity utility company; people's tinues to be a challenge for the adoption and diffusion of renew-
tendency to buy and use more electrical appliances when they able energy technologies in Malawi.
have access to electricity; and the unmet electricity demand of
industries operating off-grid using independent diesel generators 6.3. Human resource and training
because of the country's low electricity generation capacity. If the
transmission and distribution network were accessible to every Malawi has a limited number of trained personnel for devel-
household, capital costs for connection to the grid were affordable opment, implementation, operation and maintenance of large
to the majority of households, and the installed capacity of scale energy systems. Large scale energy projects are usually
electricity generation were adequate, the demand projections contracted to external companies. The situation is complex in
the delivery of renewable energy technologies which are relatively
1800
Projected Electricity Demand in MW

new. Although energy programmes are offered in vocational and

1600 higher education institutions, the education institutions are inca-
pacitated in research and laboratory equipment thus affecting the
1400
quality of technical training delivered. For example, the lack of
1200 local technical expertise is cited as one of the reason that resulted
1000 in 50 per cent of the 5000 Solar Home Systems installed since
800 2000 becoming non-operative by 2003 [13]. This is also evidenced
1597
by the importation of human resource during development and
600 maintenance of major energy systems in the country; and some-
400 874 times system components are sent to other countries for main-
598 tenance. The financial implications associated with logistics of
200 330 sourcing trained human resource from other countries to install
0 and/or maintain renewable energy systems in Malawi; for exam-
2011 2015 2020 2030
ple, for commercial wind farms, is potentially over MK36,000,
Year 00.00 ( d60,000.00) annually per MW of installed capacity [26].
Fig. 12. Malawi's electricity demand projection – (2011 value is actual) data And as a result of the weak economy, there is high likelihood of
source [15, 69]. renewable energy systems being affected by delayed maintenance
 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347 343

leading to lower capacity factors or performance ratios thereby 7.2. Economic

reducing the lifecycle benefits of the systems.
High capital costs along with higher levelised cost of energy
present a significant barrier to the promotion of renewable energy
6.4. Regulation and governance technologies. In 2013, Zalengera [55] found out that household
willingness to pay for capital costs at Likoma Island averaged
The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) is mandated US$90.00 and the monthly household willingness to pay for
to regulate the energy sector [52] using the Energy Laws as the energy, US$6.00, was half of the prevailing energy costs. Given
major legal instrument; while the Malawi Bureau of Standards Malawi's economic overview presented in section 1; it is likely
(MBS) enforces adherence to standards for, but not limited to, that this could be the prevailing economic conditions for the
energy systems installation. However, independence of the bodies majority of households in the country. Based on the minimum
is not clear especially during implementation of projects led by energy requirement, an average household of 5 in Malawi [3]
government and when enforcing policies that may affect political would need 300 kWh per month [56]. In order to meet this energy
alignments of people. There is high likelihood that systems can be requirement from electricity, a household would need a system
hastily certified and commissioned to register political milestones rated at least 1.7 kW with a capacity factor of at least 25 per cent
while compromising on quality or sustainability criteria. Other and with storage. Such a system would initially cost over
conflicts arise between policies of different government sectors US$3000.00; whereas grid-based renewable generated electricity
because of lack of coordination. For example, the agriculture sector would result in a monthly energy expenditure of USS$21.00 at the
would tolerate cultivation along the river banks as one way of subsidised electricity tariff of March 2014. Moreover, household
supplementing rain-fed agriculture to enhance food security, but grid connection is charged at US$80.00 and wiring of an average
this could disadvantage energy generation because of resultant house would cost at least US$500.00. On the other hand, a
siltation in rivers that consequently affects turbines downstream: commercially available solar water heater costs at least US
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi shuts down its $500.00. A 4 m3 biogas digester to meet the average household
turbines every year to de-silt its dam; part of the siltation could cooking energy requirement would require a capital cost of at least
be as a result of unregulated and/or unmonitored cultivation along US$1000.00. Solar cookers would cost less than the household
the river banks. willingness-to-pay for capital costs but their usage would be
In view of the situation presented above, a PESTLE analysis is limited due the social issues discussed in section 7.3. Thus, without
discussed in the next section in order to provide a comprehensive innovative financing mechanisms and feasible business models;
framework for addressing the sustainability challenges facing the the adoption of renewable energy technologies will remain low.
Malawi energy sector. The rural electrification fund which was established for financing
energy initiatives for rural areas is used to support investments by
companies. Likewise, the feed-in tariff policy set the minimum
eligible size at 500 kW which can only be implemented by rich
7. A PESTLE approach for developing renewable energy companies. In both cases the financing could be extended to
systems in Malawi households and institutions. Since the rural electrification fund is
prioritised for projects which can contribute at least 20 per cent of
Unlike the SWOT analysis [53], which identify issues in general- the capital costs for the energy investment, the fund could be used
ised categories of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, a to finance households and /or institutions to install grid connected
PESTLE analysis classifies issues as political (P) economic (E), social renewable energy systems in the range of 1–5 kW and with net-
(S), Technological (T), legal (L) and environmental (E) [53]. In context metering. The financed households or institutions would be able
to this paper, the PESTLE criteria is focussed on issues which policy to repay part or whole of the capital costs from the feed in tariff. It
makers and developers should address in order to ensure sustainable should be noted that household would even be paid for energy
diffusion and adoption of renewable energy solutions which can help which would be generated for their own use as it is similar to
communities to achieve sustainable livelihoods and the millennium feeding renewable generated energy into the grid. Apart from
development goals. addressing the energy poverty and energy security problems, the
arrangement would also address the prevailing household finan-
cial poverty rather than the current arrangement which directly
7.1. Political benefits only rich entrepreneurs and a few individuals who would
be on permanent employment. In view that other schools of
Apart from the political interference mentioned in section 6; thought would advocate for cheap systems which are claimed to
most recently, it has been observed that politicians distribute be affordable by low-income households; it should be noted that
renewable energy technologies for free to households probably for such market-based approaches only exacerbates the sustainability
campaigning reasons. Whilst this practice can lead to improved challenges arising from compromised quality assurance and short
adoption and diffusion of renewable energy technologies, it should lifespans. A sustainable dissemination of renewable energy sys-
be noted that philanthropic financing of renewable energy sys- tems cannot be achieved by increasing affordability through
tems exacerbates sustainability challenges by creating beneficially development of cheaper products but by fostering income-
dependence on donations and by reducing sense of systems generating activities (and financing mechanisms), which facilitate
ownership [54]. Also, the approach fails to provide a long-term paying for good quality systems capable to meet people's energy
solution to the challenge of high capital costs of the technologies; need [57]. Zalengera et al [58] also found out that the solar and
some beneficiaries would not be able to purchase the systems at wind feed-in tariffs that were introduced in 2012 are lower than
the end of the life of the free systems and thus the benefits of the empirically modelled levelised cost of energy for the technologies.
technology could be temporary. Perhaps the funds used for the Thus, an early review of the tariffs is required; otherwise private
free distribution of the technologies could be used for setting up entrepreneurs would not invest in the renewable energy genera-
local renewable-energy-technology subsidy programmes which tion or there would be a proliferation of poor quality systems
could probably result in increased number of beneficiaries and which would lead to poor performance thereby tarnishing the
enhanced ownership of systems. image of the technology.
344 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

7.3. Social Rogers [63] summarises the above observations in his theory of
diffusion which states that diffusion of innovation is driven by
Technologies and their development methodologies including (a) relative advantages between the available choices measured in
financing mechanisms should be adapted to contexts in which economic, social prestige, convenience and satisfaction; and
they would operate. This requires in-depth knowledge of a (b) compatibility of available technology choices with existing
number of aspects such as energy needs and requirements; values, past experiences and needs.
prioritisation of energy services; purchasing power; satisfaction
of energy services and experiences with prevailing energy tech- 7.4. Technology
nologies; social practices and social set-up of communities; and
available technical skills. Alam et al. [59] reported experiences Oftentimes technology selection of renewable energy systems
from Bangladesh where households rejected family-size solar is based on subjective choices limited by the knowledge of
cookers in preference to large solar cookers for communal kitch- developers or practitioners and thus all available options are not
ens. Similarly, Hong & Abe [60] observed that lack of post- considered. The bias for certain technologies also determine the
installation support by a community for an isolated PV mini-grid output-energy that is promoted i.e. whether electricity, heat, or
in Philippines, was in one part, caused by misalignment between mechanical power. Studies, for example in [50], showing correla-
the project objective and the community priorities. The system tion between electricity consumption and quality of living, create a
was installed for lighting which was second to food and cooking bias towards electricity. Although electricity is considered funda-
on the priority listing for the community. Zalengera [61] reported mental for modern living it may not the appropriate form of
a biogas-digester failure due to erratic feeding: the norm of the energy for every energy need [64] and could be inefficient for
household was that only the household leader (male) could collect meeting certain energy needs like cooking and heating. For
dung from the cattle pens; thus whenever the household leader example, with a PV array efficiency of 15 per cent and a cooker
was not home for a considerable number of days the digester efficiency of 68 per cent [16]; the overall efficiency becomes 8%
could not be fed. Furthermore, it should be noted that certain whilst solar thermal systems have efficiency above 30 per cent.
technologies such as biogas, if not appropriately designed, can be At least 50 per cent of per capita energy consumption is for
labour intensive i.e. feed collection, mixing of influent slurry, and heating and cooking. Meeting the cooking and heating energy
fetching water (if no water point is available nearby). The labour requirements from electricity would increase the capital costs of
demand can lead to abandonment of technologies if traditional energy systems. The obsession for electricity is observed in the
energy sources such as firewood are relatively more convenient rural electrification act and the feed-in tariff policy where there is
and less involving than the new technologies. Sometimes, the type no specific citation of technologies for direct heating despite their
of the staple food for communities also determines the social significant potential to offset energy demand from the overloaded
acceptability of technologies. For example, as Owen et al. [16] grid. With firewood becoming scarcer, renewable energy technol-
observed, solar cookers are not appropriate for food and cooking ogies for cooking and heating such as solar cookers and solar
habits of Malawi. Both the box type and parabolic dish solar water heaters, biomass briquettes, and biogas could be more
cookers would be appropriate for foods such as potatoes and rice, important than small scale solar PV and /or wind energy technol-
and boiling water whereas the staple food is Nsima which involves ogies designed only for lighting particularly for households. More-
continuous physical handling of a pot. To a certain extent, the over, due to capital costs for electric cooking appliances, provision
parabolic type solar cooker shown in Fig. 13 can be used for Nsima of electricity does not automatically lead to a shift from traditional
preparation. or conventional cooking technologies. Furthermore, the obsession
However, as shown in Fig. 13, the solar cooker requires that it has a for electricity has shifted the attention by stakeholders from
large surface area to yield enough energy but allowing comfortable mechanical wind systems which would be appropriate for the
access to the pot at the focal point by the user; and should have low wind speeds experienced in the country. The mechanical
mechanical strength to stand the cyclic loads associated with Nsima water pumps would be suitable for community water supply and
preparation. In addition, minimising the shade from the user as well irrigation agriculture during the summer dry season when the
as reducing the discomfort of the user for having to cook in the open relatively high wind speeds coincide with water scarcity due to
and be subjected to the sun present more challenges. low water table. There is also potential for mechanical wind mills
Catering services and customs associated with communal being locally produced and such systems have already been
events such as wedding and funeral ceremonies present additional demonstrated but lack market promotion.
challenges relating the energy requirements of communities and Similarly, for geothermal resource which can be used for heat
design of end-use technologies. These are areas which need more or electricity production, developers would need to consider the
research to determine the flexibility of cultures and any features following factors.
that would need to be integrated in the design of renewable
energy technologies. A report by UNESCO [62] agrees that truly (i) The flexibility of transporting the produced energy to load
lasting development has a cultural basis. centres: Electricity can easily be transported over long

Fig. 13. Typical design of parabolic dish solar cooker produced in Malawi—adapted from http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Malawi.
 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347 345

distances compared to heat which presents challenges at cooking and water heating from biogas digesters5 or from solar
distances longer than 30 km [47]. Although some geothermal thermal systems thereby reducing the demand for firewood and/or
sites are near to households, industries where process heating electricity for cooking by secondary schools and other facilities.
could be important are located hundreds of kilometres away Similar policies have been key drivers of renewable energy tech-
from the potential geothermal sites. nologies in Western countries whereby energy suppliers are obliged
(ii) Efficiency and capacity factors: Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) to source part of their energy from renewables. Fourth, wherever
turbines used for geothermal electricity generation typically possible, imported systems could be avoided: It would be cost
operate with efficiencies ranging from 10per cent to 17 per effective to use simple systems produced by local companies which
cent [48] whereas ground source heat pumps operate with makes it easy to source local maintenance expertise and spares
efficiencies, usually termed as Coefficient of Performance, COP, when systems fail. For example, despite the availability of compa-
ranging from 300 per cent to 600 per cent 3 [49]. However, nies that locally manufactured solar water heaters, intuitions
efficiency has to be considered together with capacity factor including government had continued to install imported solar water
noting that geothermal heat pumps require electricity or fuel- heaters leading to the collapse of the local manufacturing which
driven engines to operate, thus their capacity factor may be would have been contributing to the economic growth of the
affected by the availability of the primary energy driving them. country through creation of direct employment and indirect
On the other hand, capacity factors of over 90 per cent have employment in the associated supply chain industry. A deliberate
been reported for geothermal plants generating electricity if policy framework encouraging potential adopters of renewable
the correct temperatures available [47]. energy technologies to procure local systems where possible would
improve the current practice whereby there is a tendency of people
In order to avoid technology-centeredness when promoting having more trust in imported systems than local systems.
renewable energy technologies, the criteria for selecting appropri-
ate sustainable technology by Dunmade [65] would be useful viz:
simplicity; affordability and financial viability; ability to guarantee
comfortable life; save human energy and time; ability to increase 7.6. Environmental
income; ease of maintenance and time between repairs; ease of
transfer of knowledge and skills; availability of local champion to The need for the mitigation against climate change can make
continue after implementation4; capacity to meet needs; social some developers restrict environmental concerns to emissions.
equitability; cultural acceptability; supply of materials and spare Although renewable energy technologies have potential to reduce
parts; resource consumption e.g. water and other materials; and emissions, their implementation can have local environmental
environmental benefit. The criteria could be weighted. impacts. For example effluent from biogas digesters; particulates
from biomass combustion; noise and interference with commu-
7.5. Legal nication systems from wind turbines [66]; and landscape changes
can cause negative effects on the local environment. Therefore
The duty and surtax waiver on importation of renewable energy consideration should be given to full environmental impact
technology equipment helps to reduce capital costs. This enhances assessment and appropriate environmental management systems
affordability of renewable energy systems which can lead to should be designed for the potential impacts. Furthermore,
improved adoption and diffusion; However, legal instruments are although some financers place emphasis on carbon emission
required to address the potential -abuse of tax waiver by retailers: savings when funding energy technologies, government and/or
Surveys carried out in some parts of Malawi show that the tax local institutions should be able to weight appropriately the
waiver on importation of renewable energy technologies is not criteria for identifying an energy technology based on local
reflected in the retail prices; consequently, renewable energy definition of sustainability and sustainable livelihoods of commu-
technologies remain at prohibitive prices. Second, importation and nities: sustainability is founded upon the concept of sustainable
implementation of substandard systems, which damages the repu- development, defined as “development that meets the needs of
tation of renewable energy technologies in the country requires current generations without compromising the ability of future
clear regulation enforcement. There have been cases of systems; generations to meet their own needs [67]”; whilst sustainable
particularly battery based solar PV systems, becoming non- livelihoods is defined as “a livelihood comprises the capabilities,
operative within one year of implementation. This is, in one part, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities
as a result of lack of independent quality checks on the imported required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can
system components due to unavailability of testing centres for cope with and recover from stresses and shocks; maintain or enhance
renewable energy technologies in the country. its capabilities and assets, while not undermining the natural
A testing centre (TCRET) was established at Mzuzu University in resource base” [68]. From the two definitions there is a risk,
2003 but it is not operational yet. Lack of independent quality especially for developing countries, of one placing more emphasis
checks before commissioning of renewable energy systems also on the meaning of “without compromising the ability of future
contribute to the implementation of substandard systems. A clear generations to meet their own needs” and the meaning of “while not
legal framework is required to regulate a transparent coordination undermining the natural resource base” respectively without
among Malawi Revenue Authority which takes control of importa- weighting appropriately the scope and contextual definition of
tion, Malawi Bureau of Standards, TCRET, renewable energy con- “meeting current needs” and “enhancement of people's capabilities
sultants, and contractors. Third, deliberate policies could be and assets” considering the leapfrog of energy infrastructure
formulated; for example, obliging institutions such as boarding required for poor communities.
secondary schools and prisons to source part of their energy for

3
It means for every unit of energy that drives the pump, the output is 3–6
times; for example, 100 kWh from electricity driving the heat pump would deliver
5
between 300–600 kWh of heat from the ground heat source. Human waste and food waste could be a potential feedstock. Phwezi
4
It would require planning personnel training in advance of installation and secondary school is a good example of an institution using biogas produced from
not after installation when system faults have started showing up. human waste.
346 C. Zalengera et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 38 (2014) 335–347

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