NamPower guns for renewable energy

In an endeavour to address the looming power shortage and reach their own Renewable Energy Policy target which aims for 10% of installed generation capacity to be sourced from renewable sources, NamPower this week launched the N$2 million investment of their second Solar PV system.
The launch of the second Solar PV system into NamPower’s power infrastructure at their National Control Building follows on the first solar PV system on the rooftop of the Nampower Convention Centre, installed in 2012.
The installation of the second Solar PV system on the roof of the National Control Building was overseen by Namibia Engineering Corporation (NEC) through a tender the firm won in June. The installation work started in early July.
The 103kW PV grid-connected system is set to provide up to 14,600 kilowatt-hours of energy per month which is sufficient to complement the monthly energy needs of the building as well as reduce energy costs.
Speaking at the launch, Managing Director of NamPower, Paulinus Shilamba said, “With this project, NamPower is off-setting the daily energy requirements of the National Control Building with the PV system and reducing overall demand from the supply provided by the City of Windhoek.
“During peak periods, the system can reduce NamPower’s daily energy consumption by up to 35%,” he added.
Shilamba said, “NamPower’s strategic approach to realizing the renewable energy target of 10% is either to invest more in renewable energy projects and to be the off-taker for renewable energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs).”
“We need combined efforts from all stakeholders in the electricity supply industry as well as support from potential investors in order to meet this target. We thus encourage IPPs to become active and to invest in renewable energy projects,” he added.

Currently the country faces power shortages and small scale renewable energy projects such as the installation of the Solar PV system are contributing albeit at a small scale, to reduce the pressure on the national electricity grid.
“NamPower however is doing a lot in terms of promoting the use of renewable energy sources, and we will continue to do so until we realise this target and also to ensure that the share of renewable energy sources in the Namibian energy mix increases,”said Shilamba.
He said in the next couple of months the solar energy plant near Omaruru with proposed capacity of 10 megawatt (MW) will be up and running since most of the technical work has been done.
This solar facility will be connected to the existing Omburu substation that is located in close proximity to the project site.