Namibia launches two solar energy plants

Built at cost of $21m, Ejuva One and Ejuva Two are located side by side and were constructed and managed as one project. It is among the 14 renewable energy projects commissioned under the interim Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff programme (REFIT programme), initiated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Electricity Control Board to establish independent power producers in Namibia. The Ejuva projects are backed by 25-year power purchase agreements with Nampower.

The local co-development partners, OKA Capital (Pty) Ltd and BPI Energy Solutions (Pty) Ltd, played a key role in successfully bringing the projects to commissioning. The local partners own 34% of the equity, while developer CIGenCo SA owns 49% and asset manager Mergence Unlisted Investment Managers (Namibia) owns 17% on behalf of its clients.

CIGenCo, a subsidiary of South Africa-listed Consolidated Infrastructure Group Limited, strongly supported by the local Namibian shareholders acted as co-developers and investors, raising the initial bridging financing required to construct the projects CiGenCo and the local Namibian shareholders also sharing responsibility for aspects of the operations and management of the plants and related electrical infrastructure. Construction was completed by October 2017 and financial close was reached in April 2018. The project sustained 20 jobs during construction and will support five ongoing Namibian jobs during operation.

The Ejuva project has good access to key infrastructure and grid access, being adjacent to the path of a 11kV Nampower line. The regional substation is located 100m from the site boundary, approximately 200 km from Windhoek along the B6 motorway.