Namibia in line for first large-scale PV power plant
Nov 19, 2014 - Ben Willis - PV-tech.org
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Representatives of InnoSun and
NamPower at the signing of the Omburu project
PPA last year. Image: InnoSun. |
Namibia in southern Africa is expected to see its
first large-scale PV plant come online early next
year following a ground-breaking ceremony last week.
The 4.5MW project is being built in Omburu, to the
north-west of the Namibian capital, Windhoek, by
French company InnoSun.
Power from the project will be sold under a 25-year
power purchase agreement to Namibian utility, NamPower.
According to InnoSun, its output will be roughly
11,025MWh per year, enough to supply 1% of Namibia’s
electricity consumption.
Speaking to PV Tech, Marc Piquer Coll, InnoSun’s
project manager for network connections, said the
Omburu project would be complete in March 2015. Meanwhile,
he said the company had another PV project of a similar
size ready to go in Namibia next year and a pipeline
of between 30 and 50MW of other projects in the country.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, Namibia’s
minister of mines and energy, Isak Katali, quoted
by a local news agency, said: “As a government
some of our aims and objectives with regards to energy
include: improving the level of innovation with technology,
the supply of electricity and especially the security
of supply and in turn self-sustainability of energy
supply.”
Katila had previously called for an increase in
the deployment of solar in Namibia, particularly
in off-grid locations.
Indeed, a number of prominent companies are beginning
to look at Namibia, having established themselves
in South Africa’s booming renewables market.
Among them are Norway’s Scatec Solar and China-based
ReneSola, which set up a Cape Town office in January
as a base for expanding into other markets.
Piguer Coll said InnoSun had gained experience of
the region through the development of a 105MW wind
portfolio in South Africa.
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