Ministry of Energy conduct national solar heating programme

Ministry of Energy and Power Development has conducted a solar water heating programme in Harare to make residents aware of the benefits of using the solar devices. Harare Residents Trust said it attended a national solar water heating program facilitated by the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.

"Participants were told of the benefits of using solar geysers, how the geyser works and how to assure that a good quality system is installed at your house among other questions," said the trust.

"Benefits of using a solar water heater are: it saves the amount of electricity consumed by the electric geyser, its cheap since one gets to use free energy from the sun."

The trust said a solar water heater comprises of a single or an array of solar collectors to collect solar energy to heat water and an insulated tank to store the hot water.

"During the day time, water in solar collectors gets heated and is either pumped or flows automatically to the storage tank. The government is developing some minimum technical requirements for installation of solar water heating systems in the field," said the trust.