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Zambia’s potential market for Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) as an off-grid fossil fuel needs stable, market-sustaining and stimulating policies as it is large.
LPG is gaining a reputation as the cleanest, most efficient off-grid fossil fuel – and one that is playing a major role in other countries transition towards a cleaner energy mix.
This is according to the Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) in its write up on Zambia’s Energy Mix and Climate Change: The Need for Energy Diversification.
PMRC stated that adoption of LPG required investment in infrastructure such as import, bulk storage, transportation, and filling facilities.
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It further stated that this adoption also required expanded distribution and retailing networks to ensure reliable and affordable supply and safe delivery to end users.
The think tank warned that if upstream supply issues are not addressed, LPG stove dissemination programmes will not provide long-term benefits.
“At the national government level, an inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholder approach is critical to ensure that planning addresses all relevant issues, including upstream investment and supply chain, health and environmental issues, and affordability.
“Policy makers must determine pricing regimes, taxes, and subsidies that are well tailored to enable low income households to adopt and use LPG on a sustained basis.
According to PMRC, creating a strong enabling environment for LPG through a combination of national planning, policy reform and targeted investments across the supply chain is critical.
It emphasised that developing countries that had not done so remained stuck at levels of two kilogrammes per capita or less.
In contrast, PMRC indicated, countries that had done so were maintaining high levels of LPG penetration, with or without long-lasting subsidies.
“Zambia needs to implement and rigorously enforce effective, self-consistent LPG market rules, with central emphasis on property rights protection in marketer-owned LPG cylinders and on public safety.
“It also needs to ensure stability and continuity of the LPG fuel supply in all regions to be served, and ensure high LPG retail density. i.e., open additional outlets and increase distribution models,” PMRC stated.
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