Namibia witnessed a 70.4% increase in domestic electricity production in the first quarter of 2024, reaching 850 million kilowatt-hours (kWh).
According to data from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), domestic electricity production led to a 17.1% decline in electricity imports during the period under review, underlining efforts towards greater self-reliance in power generation.
This comes as the electricity and water sector expanded by 9.8% in real value added during the first quarter of the year, a slowdown from the 32.9% growth recorded a year earlier.
Within the sector, the electricity subsector grew by 16.1% in real value-added, compared to 55.6% in Q1 2023.
Despite the overall production growth “the quantity of electricity sold slightly decreased by 1.5% to 909 million KWH compared to the same period last year,” reflecting fluctuations in demand.
Namibia’s total electricity demand is currently estimated at 600MW per annum, while generation capacity stands at approximately 486.5MW. The need for more power is projected to grow at a yearly rate of 5%.
Namibia’s fifth National Development Plan targets to increase the country’s overall power generation capacity to 750MW.
Similarly, national power utility, NamPower’s five-year strategic plan, aims to increase its renewable energy generation by 100MW by 2025.
By 2030, it targets to increase the share of renewable energy generation from 30% to 70%, which is likely to reduce the high dependency on electricity imports, while further promoting self-sufficiency.
This comes as NamPower has secured N$2.6 billion in funding from the World Bank to expand its transmission network and integrate renewable energy into the grid.
