By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – He struggles with a huge solar panel as he crawls on the rooftop of his house. Just below him, on the ground, stands his wife gazing upwards, with one hand partially covering her face from direct sun heat.

Nevson Devera, for that is his name, at the age of 44 and domiciled in Harare the Zimbabwean capital, has not had electricity from the country’s main power utility, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, connected to his house, 15 years after he built it. Tired of using fossil fuels for energy, he and his wife Sarudzai have turned to the sun for electricity.

Even across the border, north of this Southern African nation, in Zambia, thousands of people have also switched to the sun for power supplies amid inadequate electricity in the country. In fact, in both rural and urban areas across Southern Africa, use of solar energy has become a regional trend.…