Windhoek’s Hotel Thule yesterday installed a massive generator in anticipation of severe electricity shortages in the country in 2015. According to General Manager of the hotel, Wolfgang Balzar, about N$600 000 was invested in procuring and installing the generator. “We cannot run our operation without electricity and this generator will ensure that we have power available for all our operations,” said Balzar.
Namibian businesses are grappling with fears of possible load shedding and electricity shortages in the coming months, and some have started buying generators in anticipation of such eventualities. Although Namibia has yet to implement any load shedding, the load shedding in South Africa has instilled fears of the unknown in Namibia.
The South African’ energy utility, Eskom, which has previously supplied Namibia with a significant portion of electricity, has been implementing load shedding for the past weeks as the energy utility battles to provide reliable electricity supplies. Eskom has warned the situation could last for months, perhaps for the next 18 months, while it refurbishes its energy generation plants. Eskom, the largest electricity producer in Africa and among the top seven in the world, has asked businesses to buy generators.
Eskom has since two years ago told Namibia that it could no longer supply the country with the same amount of electricity as in the past. The Namibian national energy utility, NamPower, has since accelerated the construction of its own energy generation plants as well as signed different power purchase agreements with energy utilities in neighbouring countries, besides South Africa. Photo: Edgar Brandt