U.S Company Leads 500-Megawatt Solar Project in Namibia

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A planned 500-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Namibia could be the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa when completed. The project site is near the country's capital, Windhoek.

The government of Namibia has made power purchase and construction agreements with The Africa Energy Corporation (AEC), the parent company of which is U.S solar project developer SSI Energy Solutions (Washington D.C).

Partners in the project include the former CEO of SunEdison, Jigar Shah; Tom Amis and Nik Patesh of clean-energy law firm Cooley LLP (Palo Alto, California), Eric Henderson of the Beacon Group (New York, New York); and Adam Stern and Gary Kleiman of the Gemstone Group.

Construction on the project could start in January 2012, after an agreement is put in place with an EPC contractor. The project, which will require an investment of up to $2 billion, could be completed and ready for operation in 2013.

The area of distribution for the solar installations is under consideration over a wide area in the hopes that cloud cover over one section will not affect the total generating capacity installation. The wide distribution would mean that a large area of land would be taken up by connecting transmission lines carrying the 500 MW. The project will require thousands of acres, according to one source.

Currently, Namibia imports coal and electrical power from neighbors South Africa and Botswana. The new project , which may have a wind power element added to take total power output to 1,000 MW, would go a long way to giving the country power security and self-sufficiency for its population of more than 2 million people.

The Namibia project is the largest of a wave of solar activity throughout sub-Saharan Africa with manufacturing facilities being set up to cater for the development end of the market, in addition to major grid supplies.

In Kenya, Dutch company Ubbink BV, in a joint venture with battery manufacturer and supplier Chloride Exide (Nairobi, Kenya), has set up the first solar panel factory in East and Central Africa. The firm buys broken cells from Dutch company Solland Solar, which are then cut by laser or hand into smaller cells to be used in panels of between 13 and 120 watts. The rural population provides 66% of customers for the project, which employs 30 people.

In South Africa, Ikhwezi Unplugged, a designer, supplier and installer of renewable and energy-efficient systems, has launched a solar system manufacturing facility in East London in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. The factory will manufacture flat plate thermal collectors for environmentally friendly energy sources with imported German technology. The Energy Ministry believes that the new solar system will assist in the government's effort to have1 million solar water heaters by 2014.

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