Changing the energy landscape in Southern Africa: discussion with Hilton Chingosho

Hilton Chingosho is a non-stop, passionate Energy and Power Systems Engineer – he is the coordinator for the Master’s in Renewable Energy Engineering program me at the University of Zimbabwe, the Research Leader responsible for Energy and Power Research in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at the same institution, a Faraday Institution Battery Ambassador for Zimbabwe, a consultant in various renewable energy projects and policy development in his home country of Zimbabwe. He recently travelled to Kigali, Rwanda to join the TEA-LP Mini-grids training workshop and then went straight on to the Faraday Institution Conference in Newcastle. Despite his busy schedule, he still made time to connect with us and humbly shared a bit more about his professional journey, the TEA-LP and his vision for the energy sector in Southern Africa.

While the University of Zimbabwe has offered a Master’s in renewable energy since 1996 (one of the first in Africa with such a program), it joined the TEA-LP in 2021 and has incorporated two courses into its programme: Local Solution for Energy Access (taught in semester one) and Mini-Grids Planning and Design (semester two). Hilton explained that the 18-month programme (36-month part time) takes on a cohort of between 15-25 students and consists of two taught semesters followed by a dissertation semester. Hilton expressed his gratitude, saying, “We are so happy to have been selected as one of the TEA-LP partners, and as the inaugural coordinator, I feel honoured to join international colleagues in the academics of renewable energy in capacity development. As a university, and also given my role as the Renewable Energy Coordinator for the Master’s programme, I feel we have benefited so much from the partnership. It has opened many opportunities for our lecturers and for our students. We have participated in training to improve our teaching, and our students have been exposed to opportunities like scholarships and academic challenges, such as our participation in the Efficiency for Design Access Challenge in 2023 and 2024. For us it has been a great opportunity to connect with peers around the world to push the energy access agenda.  We are looking forward to our continued participation in the TEA-LP, and we hope we will continue to access further opportunities, connections and collaborations in the near future.”

Highlighting Zimbabwe’s energy challenges, Eng Chingosho spoke about how only 42 % of the country have access to electricity (grid-access) and that 62 % of the population having access to clean energy services. Furthermore, he spoke about how the Zimbabwean government has created an enabling environment for the proliferation and increased adoption of renewable energy in the country through effective policies and incentives such as removing duty on renewable energy equipment and crafting statutory instruments such as the net metering regulation to name a few.

Eng. Chingosho spoke positively about the advances in renewable energy and energy access in Zimbabwe. He shared that the policy landscape (of which he was very much involved in developing) has created an enabling environment for the role out of IPPs across the country and despite some funding challenges, he is seeing an increased uptake of mini-grids in the country. He has been involved in a project along the eastern border in a small village called Hakwata in rural Chipinge: “I was recently engaged by United Nations Development Programme Climate Adaptation Water Energy Programme (UNDP CAWEP) to develop, design and install ten solar e-cookstoves as a pilot program for improved clean cooking access to rural communities. On completion, the project will give people access to induction stoves to cook their local delicacies in a clean way. Through these types of projects, one sees how access to energy can have a profound impact on peoples’ quality of life.” 

Eng. Chingosho went on to describe the recent TEA-LP Mini-grids Training Workshop as: “very effective and academically enriching, having the opportunity to train in appropriate energy modelling and simulation software. It was also a chance for lecturers to meet and exchange ideas on how best to deliver the TEA-LP modules that we have incorporated into our courses.” He shared how beyond the training, the workshop was an opportunity to make sure that these international partnerships remain alive and strong; “Just having the opportunity to link up with more distant countries like with colleagues in Fiji, you get to appreciate that we are all one and we are having very similar issues which we can attempt to solve through effective collaborations.” For example, he has already connected with colleagues in Nigeria and Malawi who are now assisting with some research and course delivery.

His recent selection for the Faraday Battery Ambassadorship has been an exciting new opportunity and Eng. Chingosho shared what this means for his career and country; “On a personal level, the Battery Ambassador role will assist me with networking opportunities and linking up with like-minded researchers in the field. I am so happy to have attended the Faraday battery conference in Newcastle where I met colleagues, peer researchers and other students who are already pursuing their PhDs. It was an amazing opportunity to network, and to identify other areas of collaboration and research partnerships. Professionally, this role offers me the opportunity to be at the center of coordinating and establishing a network of professionals working within the battery energy sector in Zimbabwe. As I have already been involved in the renewable energy sector in Zimbabwe, I see this new role as an opportunity to have long standing research in battery mainstreamed allowing further technology exchange and will act as an avenue for the country to be exposed to cutting-edge research and new technologies for possible adoption in Zimbabwe.” 

He further explained that as Zimbabwe is one of the top ten lithium ore producing countries in the world, and top in Africa, that there are huge opportunities to design and manufacture their own battery in the near future, or at least purify the lithium locally and/or make the necessary assembly of lithium-iron based components for battery production. He hopes that his Battery Ambassadorship will enable future collaboration, help build a network of experts and be exposed to technology that pushes the battery storage agenda in Zimbabwe.

It was a truly inspiring conversation as Eng. Chingosho’s passion for, and dedication to energy access is remarkable. He finished off sharing his vision: “As a consultant I have worked a lot in the energy access space, I have worked a lot on policy, in fact I am currently working with a team of international experts commissioned by the Government of Zimbabwe in partnership with Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to review the current National Energy policy for Zimbabwe, and I feel so connected when your engineering comes alive in policy work to solve real world challenges through statement of intent. Bridging the gap between academics, industry and society – I would like to see us from the global south solving our own problems, using our own resources in a realistic and fast way, because this 2030 goal of achieving universal energy access can only be realised when we start adopting and using local solutions, such as energy generation at the point of use to solve the very visible energy poverty in remote districts of the country. That is looking at decentralised/ distributed solutions…these being solutions that can only be born at the local level.”

Thank you, Hilton, for sharing your valuable insights with us, we look forward to connecting further in the future.