Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Tjekero Tweya says Namibia needs to have a renewed focus on a diverse energy mix, highlighting its potential to address the country’s expensive energy crisis.
Tweya was speaking at the Namibia University of Science and Technology’s (NUST) public lecture on petroleum activities in Namibia and criticised the country’s current reliance on imported energy sources, which contributes to the nation having some of the highest electricity costs in Southern Africa.
“Namibia has some of the most expensive electricity in Southern Africa due to our reliance on imported energy sources. We inquired at a recent meeting why Namibia’s costs are so high. The response was that we must import electricity from places like Mwangi, Zimbabwe and Zambia, and because these purchases are made in US Dollars, the final cost to Namibian consumers is significantly inflated,” he said.
He further said while the country exports uranium, it currently lacks the infrastructure to utilise it for domestic energy generation and suggests that incorporating uranium alongside renewable energy sources like solar and wind could create a more sustainable and cost-effective energy mix for Namibia.
“Within the context of energy mix you can have from solar, wind, gas, fossil fuel as well as from our own uranium that is what mix means, so if we have got a bit of each it can make a difference. All these are resources that we have which we can utilise to address the shortages,” he said.
He further questioned the lack of progress on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) initiative, which aimed to encourage private sector participation in energy generation. Additionally, concerns were raised about the opaqueness surrounding the recent cancellation of planned energy price hikes.
“The Independent Power Producer (IPP) initiative was designed to allow greater participation from private citizens in the energy sector. This would have fostered a more competitive market and potentially increased energy availability.”
This comes as Namibia imports 60% of its electricity needs from neighbouring countries in its quest to meet the country’s daily energy demands.
