
InnoVent subsidiary InnoSun and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) tomorrow at a side event during the climate change conference in France.
The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commenced on Monday.
Speaking to Nampa about this development on Tuesday, environmental commissioner Theofilus Nghitila commended the move, saying it is a signal to the world that Namibia has the potential for renewable energy.
“Namibia has the best wind regime in the world, which is unexploited for energy generation. We expect the signing ceremony to open a new era for Namibia for the private sector to tap into this potential to the fullest. This energy resource needs to be exploited like diamonds,” he stressed.
Namibia has set itself an ambitious target to have 90% of energy needs met by renewable energy by the year 2030. The target set by the year 2030 is subject to the availability of financial resources by developed countries, the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the private sector, said Nghitila.
InnoVent, through its InnoSun and InnoWind subsidiaries, has provided a variety of organisations with several solar power and wind turbine installations so they can meet their energy needs. This has been a successful programme, with hundreds of panels and uninterruptible power supplies given to the organisations, according to an invitation issued by InnoSun to the MoU signing event on Friday.
“This MoU is the first step to allocate approximately 8 800 hectares to InnoWind for the implementation of a 150 to 500 MW wind farm in the Namib, one of the windiest places in the world,” it stated.
Following its developments in South Africa, InnoVent created InnoSun in 2008 with the aim of developing new projects in Namibia.
InnoSun was created in 2010 to develop, construct, finance and operate solar photovoltaic plants. This led to Namibia's first-ever multi-million dollar solar plant near Omaruru in the Erongo region being inaugurated in May this year.
“Namibia receives more sunlight than anywhere else on earth, so it was unthinkable not to harness this solar energy,” the company's website says.
In Africa, InnoVent has already developed wind farms producing thousands of megawatts in countries such as Morocco and Kenya. - Nampa
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