Namibia

Thirty seven solar water heating industry leaders and academics have just attended the third SOLTRAIN (Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative) solar thermal technical training course in Pretoria, South Africa. The training was formally opened by the regional coordinator of the programme, Professor Dieter Holm. In opening, Holm emphasized the value of the hands-on approach to the course under the guidance of a number of eminent experts in the field. The delegates represented a balanced mix from industry and academia.
Photo: Omnibus Engineering

This study, commissioned by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, provides an overview of the solar water heating (SWH) industry in Namibia in 2005, comparing it with electric solar heating. Other African countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and their SWH development are also mentioned to help comparing the evolution of Namibia.

A solar thermal expert with heart and soul: Werner Weiss, Managing Director of AEE – Intec, the Institute for Sustainable Technologies from Austria, runs technical trainings and demonstration projects for solar thermal technology in several countries worldwide. Photo: Bärbel Epp

The TREE Project (Transfer Renewable Energy & Efficiency), run by the Renewables Academy (RENAC) in Berlin aims to promote capacity building and know-how transfer in renewable energies (RE), energy efficiency (EE) and climate protection for both decision makers from politics and business, as well as technicians and engineers in emerging countries.

Solar thermal systems for all application areas – this is the top marketing and sales concept at Zingaro, an Austro-South African solar thermal systems distributor, designer and installer. Photo: Zingaro

This paper from 2007 looks into the energy needs of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) which is a consortium of countries in Southern Africa represented by their national power utility companies. The paper indicates that the critical concern for this region is that the electricity demand cannot be met beyond 2010.

Namibia has successfully implemented a directive in 2007 which requires SWH on all new public buildings, on existing public buildings without water heaters and existing public buildings with electric geysers. Namibia could reduce its peak electricity demand by almost 20 MW thanks to this directive. Find more details about the solar obligation in the following table.

Showering with energy from the sun: the new built hostels of the Polytechnic of Namibia are equipped with 87 solar water heaters with a capacity of 300 litres each. Photo: Namibian Engineering Corporation

A recoupment period of two years: The University of Namibia in Windhoek replaced an oil boiler that had reached the end of its life cycle with 109 solar water heaters.
Photo: Namibian Engineering Cooperation/Solahart