Alpha Namibia Industries Renewable Power Limited (ANIREP) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have partnered to conduct a feasibility study to determine the viability of developing a 10-20 MW independent solar power plant.
The study, according to the Namibian Stock Exchange listed company, is expected to take an estimated nine months from the effective date, with a view to pilot the new Modified Single Buyer Model (MSBM) in the country.
“ANIREP and the IFC will work on the development and implementation of the aggregation model to, inter alia, confirm tariffs and validate the business model, as well as identify the tools and operational requirements for potential scalability in Namibia and across the region.
“The objective is to implement a successful solar project to supply energy to a portfolio of customers, also referred to as an aggregator model, under the MSBM,” AINREP said.
The new MSBM in Namibia was established by the Electricity Control Board (ECB) in 2019 to allow independent power producers (IPPs) to sell electricity directly to customers (i.e. off-takers registered to procure power through the MSB model), including regional electricity distributors, large industrial and mining companies, municipalities, and local authorities.
ANIREP Managing Director Iyaloo Nangolo said the company was pleased to have achieved the significant partnership with IFC, which provides capacity and momentum for ANIREP on its journey towards contributing to the development and supply of at least 30% of the renewable energy in the country.
“This is on the back of the healthy pipeline of projects in the ANIREP stable, including the recent award to construct and operate an 18.5 MW solar plant for Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb under the MSB model, in addition to the 20MW solar PV Khan IPP which broke ground in March 2022, plus the inauguration last month of the 20 MW Omburu EPC and Operation & Maintenance project with NamPower. On completion, ANIREP will be supplying over 50 MW Solar PV as an Independent Power Producer,” he said.
IFC Country Manager for Namibia, Adamou Labara said the global financial institution was looking forward to working with ANIREP to support the expansion of renewable, accessible and sustainable energy in Namibia and to drive the implementation of the Modified Single Buyer model.
“IFC is working across the region to support partners to make the energy transition through innovative models.”
This comes as ANIREP is targeting to increase its renewable energy generation market share to 30% by 2025 by contributing towards increasing Namibia’s commercial installed renewable energy generation from 150MW to 760 MW by 2025.
Out of 170MW PV power plants in Namibia, ANIREP’s subsidiary HopSol Africa has been involved in the construction of 120MW.
