WINDHOEK – The Ohlthaver & List Group of Companies yesterday officially launched Africa’s largest solar rooftop plant at its subsidiary, Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL).
The N$22.8 million solar power investment, which will produce 1.1 MW of electricity, is designed to provide up to 34 percent of NBL’s total electricity consumption during peak solar production during the day”.
“Through this project we aim to assist in relieving the pressure on electricity supply from neighbouring countries by becoming self-sufficient, while creating employment for Namibians and in so doing contribute to alleviating the pressure that rests on government’s shoulders,” noted O&L Group Executive Chairman, Sven Thieme.
The solar rooftop plant consists of 4200 solar panels with 66 SMA inverters and spans over an area of 6 400 square metres. The special design of the plant provides an east-west orientation on a 10-degree mounting system.
“The advantage of this design from DHybrid, a German-based solar company, is that it has a higher output in the mornings and afternoons, reduces the wind loads and caters for sufficient ventilation to ensure the highest efficiency, while the plant will have an annual output of 1.9 GWh (GigaWatt hours),” he said.
Delivering a statement on behalf of Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, Willem Isaacks, the deputy director of renewable energy in the mines ministry, Noddy Ipangelwa, noted: “We know we cannot rely on our neighbours indefinitely. South Africa experiences major problems on a yearly basis and every winter their residents start worrying about power outages. Supply from any of our neighbours should not be taken for granted and therefore we must become self-sufficient.”
Namibia’s total electricity consumption in 2010 was just shy of 4000 GWh of which close to 40 percent was imported from South Africa and 16 percent from Zimbabwe’s Hwange coal-fired power station.
Of Namibia’s 393 MW in-country generation capacity just over 36 percent is fossil-fuel based. Ipangelwa noted that Namibia’s annual growth in electricity demand is estimated at 3 percent over the next 30 years.
Due to this expected growth in power demand Namibia is expected to face a capacity deficit in its generation capacity from 2015.
Government is actively promoting the use of solar energy, which has been almost exclusively for off-grid applications.
“Off-grid solar electrification is set to continue for the next 20 years under the Off-Grid Energisation Master Plan. However, to more fully use its solar energy potential, Namibia is well placed for the development of grid-fed solar thermal power-generated electricity, particularly considering the availability of vast areas of land with ideal conditions for large-scale solar power electricity generation”, remarked Ipangelwa.
By Edgar Brandt