The Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) is exploring the possibility of extending its funding for greenhouse projects to households in a bid to ease the financial burden of electricity and bridge the power supply gap.
The bank is considering installing solar energy systems in affordable housing developments to provide solar water heating and power generation for household use.
According to DBN Executive for Marketing Jerome Mutumba, “the initial cost will be passed on to the owner of the new home, the increment in cost has the medium to long-term positive effect of making home ownership more affordable on a monthly basis.”
This comes as DBN is already financing solar power installations for businesses across Namibia.
Three new enterprises, including a truck and tractor repair plant, a charcoal manufacturer, and a large retail outlet, have already received funding from DBN to strengthen their businesses with solar energy.
Mutumba emphasized that independent power generation for own consumption is becoming an attractive form of security for business continuity, particularly in the face of potential shortages in the Southern African Power Pool and Namibia’s reliance on electricity imports.
“The trend towards own generation by the Namibian private sector, through solar power has become more prevalent, with widely reported capacity installed by large retail facilities and fuel outlets. This is also in line with new approaches in environmental and social governance (ESG),” he said.
Furthermore, Mutumba stated that businesses generating their own power alleviate the strain on the national grid, ensuring that electricity is available for households and other enterprises that are not able to establish their own solar generation.
Namibia has abundant solar energy potential, and this move towards household solar energy systems is expected to further promote the use of renewable energy in the country, thereby reducing its reliance on imported electricity.
Namibia imports a total of 460MW from regional power utilities in its quest to meet the country’s daily energy demands averaging 500MW.
