Namibia doing well in renewable energy:Ndhlukula

WINDHOEK, 12 AUG – Namibia has made great strides in the deployment of renewable energy and renewable efficiencies, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE), Kudakwashe Ndhlukula said.
Speaking at a media engagement by the SADC Secretariat here on Sunday, Ndhlukula said the country’s adoption of the Renewable Energy Policy in 2017 puts Namibia ahead of other SADC member states, despite having huge potential in solar, wind, biomass and hydro energy.
The policy provides guidance to the government on how to develop the renewable energy sector. It will also scale up the contribution of power from renewable sources in the country’s electricity mix while aiming to enable access to modern, clean and affordable energy services for all Namibians.
“There is quite a significant opportunity for serving the people that we have, but awareness is lacking in the [renewable energy] industry,” he said, adding that capacity to develop, manage and govern systems that include renewable energy efficiency capacities is also limited.
He indicated that over 60 per cent of populations in the region were living in rural areas and access to clean and affordable energy services was very low in those areas, thus innovation was needed to include everybody.
“This is an issue that we really need to look at seriously by bringing in renewable energy and energy efficiency to contribute towards this issue,” he stated.
To facilitate better energy in the region, SADC’s Director of Infrastructure and Services, Mapolao Mokoena said the region was focusing on corridor development where member states had to enter into agreements and have legal instruments for joint governance to develop corridors such as railways, highways and ports.
One such way was by establishing one-stop border-posts. Implementation of such border posts means fast-track immigration formalities and customs clearance of goods at borders.
She said the region has not been doing well as far as establishing one-stop border posts with the only existing one in the region being between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
However, she noted that one-stop border posts between Namibia and Botswana; the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia; and South Africa and Zimbabwe were a priority for implementation.
“Those are critical border posts which we believe have to be transformed into one-stop border posts,” Mokoena said.
NAMPA