The Omburu Solar Power Station, is a 20 megawatts

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

station in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

. The power station, which was developed and is owned by Namibia Power Corporation (Proprietary) Limited (NamPower), was constructed between March 2021 and June 2022 and was commercially commissioned on 24 June 2022. NamPower integrates the energy generated here, calculated at 67.8 GWh annually, into the Namibian grid. This is the first grid-connected PV solar power station, fully owned and operated by NamPower.

Location

The solar farm sits on , approximately southeast of the town of Omaruru, in the

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

of Namibia. This is about northwest of

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

, the capital and largest city of Namibia. The geographical coordinates of this solar farm are: 21°29'12.0"S, 16°01'46.0"E (Latitude:-21.486667; Longitude:16.029444).

Ownership

The power station is 100 percent owned by

NamPower Namibia Power Corporation, commonly known as NamPower, is the national electric power utility company of Namibia. The company is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the country. Its activities are lice ...

, the Namibian electricity utility

parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

company.

Construction and cost

The construction cost is reported as NAD:317 million (approx. US$20 million). The

engineering, procurement and construction Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts (a type of turnkey contract) are a form of contract used to undertake construction works by the private sector on large-scale and complex infrastructure projects. Overview Under an EPC c ...

(EPC) contract was awarded to a joint venture between ''Hopsol Africa'' and ''Tulive Private Equity'', both Namibian companies based in Windhoek.

Timeline

The solar farm took 15 months to construct. Commercial commissioning was achieved on 24 June 2022.

Other considerations

At the time this power station was commissioned, it was the source of the cheapest electric energy in Namibia at that time. The solar farm is part of NamPower's target to increase national generation capacity from "624 MW to 879 MW by 2025".

References

External links

Official Webpage of NamPower
{{Authority control Solar power stations in Namibia Buildings and structures in Erongo Region Energy infrastructure completed in 2022 2022 establishments in Namibia