Namibia continues to optimise renewable energy opportunities

A recently constructed solar plant in Namibia will feed additional 5.78 MW electricity to the country’s national grid, local media reported on Wednesday.

“ The additional electricity will lessen the country’s dependency on imports which are pegged at around 60 per cent,’’ it noted.

Bank Windhoek, financiers of the Trekkopje’s Solar Project, located in the Erongo region, said the solar project in the region is part of the development of solar parks in Namibia.

The project, which has a life span of 25 years was constructed by a multinational industrial company specialising in renewable energy, Enertronica Group.

“The project has a combined output of 5.78 Megawatts.

“But we expect it to be a bit higher because of the high performance of the technology adopted for this specific plant,’’ the lead consultant of the project, Maurizio Decinti, said.

Decinti said: “This is the first plant where Enertronica Group’s patented trackers are mounted on the structures which means that the modules will follow the sun during the day optimising the already high irradiation.’’

“Although, the output from the plant is dedicated to feeding into the NamPower grid.

“Enertronica Group has committed to building three smaller solar technology facilities to serve schools of the surrounding communities,’’ he added.

Namibian government’s target is to provide 70 per cent of the country’s energy mix from renewable resources by the year 2030.