Namibia

An overview of the state of solar across the continent by trade body the Africa Solar Industry Association has highlighted a patchy policy landscape where clean power ambitions are often not followed through.

With Cape Town-based The Sun Exchange’s cell-level solar leasing model now reportedly serving 19,000 micro investors, linking finance directly to carbon emission tonnage is another route to bringing PV investment to fruition across the continent.

The rise of clean energy and prosumers, net metering and greenhouse gas regulation all figure among the bogeymen as far as national electric companies are concerned.

Plus, some 5 GW of solar could be heading to Botswana and Namibia and news of a new automotive fuel cell building in Ulm, Germany.

The nation’s Central Procurement Board, on behalf of utility NamPower, has announced a tender to select an engineering, procurement and construction services contractor.

The German developer and independent power producer claims it finished its latest solar project in the country about one month ahead of schedule.

The governments of the two African nations are considering deploying huge volumes of generation capacity over two decades. The project, still in its initial phase, is being supported by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy.

NamPower has announced two 20 MW solar projects as part of a 220 MW renewable energy strategy. One will be owned and operated by the utility and the second will be tendered in the near future.

Natura Energy subsidiary, TeraSun Energy, has announced a N$900 million (US$63.2 million) investment in a 50MW solar plant in Arandis, western Namibia.

The 45 MW installation is part of the government’s plan to reduce dependence on hydropower and, more importantly, imported electricity from neighboring South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.