Namibia: Solar Energy Best for Rural Areas

MINES and Energy Minister Isak Katali says his ministry firmly believes that renewable energy can be part of a solution to provide electricity to rural areas. He said rural electrification remains a challenge.

"The infrastructure associated with rural electrification is very expensive, largely due to the low population density and low economic activities in the areas requiring electricity to support the cost of bringing the grid to these areas," Katali said.


He was speaking at the launch of the Solar Revolving Fund (SRF), an element of the Ministry's Off-Grid Energisation Master Plan for Namibia, in Windhoek yesterday.

The SRF allows people to buy solar-power systems by making use of revolving credit.

Technologies that have been financed so far include solar home systems, solar water pumping and solar water heating.

The Plan's objective is to promote off-grid rural electrification through the use of renewable energy.

Katali said, energy shops will be set up in every region and this was being coordinated by the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Institute at the Polytechnic of Namibia, with financial from the Finnish embassy.

The ministry's permanent secretary, Joseph Iita, said the SRF programme was established in 1996 and had been run by private fund administrators before it was taken over by the ministry again this year.

So far, Government has contributed about N$19 million to the SRF and about 1 500 people have benefited from it, borrowing about N$11 million, said Iita.

Applicants pay a minimum deposit of 5 per cent and an interest rate of 5 per cent annually. Loans are repaid within five years.

Source:   AllAfrica.com

Europe Will be Powered by Saharan Sun in Five Years

The super-sized solar projects being built in the Sahara desert will start generating and providing Europe with clean energy within the next five years, according to the European energy commissioner.  This is much sooner, than the initial 10-year time frame given to the project.

The EU and many European companies are helping to fund a large scheme of solar projects in Northern Africa called Desertec in hopes of using that energy to meet a target of having 20 percent of its energy come from renewables by 2020.  The first phase of projects will have a capacity in the hundreds of megawatts, while over the next 20 to 40 years, the capacity will reach hundreds of gigawatts.

The electricity will be transmitted to Europe with new inter-connector cables being constructed under the Mediterranean Sea, but will also service African nations.

Source:   Reuters, EcoGeek