In this first webinar, leading entrepreneurs gave inspiring testimonies on their journey to building sustainable business in the energy and power sector in Namibia and South Africa.

The power sector in Namibia has undertaken several reforms aimed at attracting Independent Power Producers (IPPs) by providing a stable investment environment. Such reforms include the horizontal consolidation of more than 70 distributors into five regional electricity distribution companies (REDs) and the establishment of transparent tariff setting procedures, all overseen by the sector regulator, the Electricity Control Board (ECB). While the country’s generation mix utilizes primarily hydropower, the majority of electricity is imported (about 60% of the total electrical energy requirement), primarily through bilateral contracts from South Africa’s Eskom and to a lesser extent, the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP). https://www.usaid.gov/powerafrica/namibia

While South Africa is a prime candidate for increased use of renewable energy with its abundant natural resources of sun and wind.

The South African government has identified the green economy as one of 12 job drivers that could help contribute to creating millions of jobs. The New Growth Path, in which the sectoral jobs targets are disaggregated, envisages that as many as 300 000 new direct jobs could be created in the areas of natural resource management and renewable energy construction (The Republic of South Africa – Parliament 2009, 2009). 

The National Development Plan (NDP) identified the need for South Africa to invest in a network of economic infrastructure designed to support the country’s medium- and long-term economic, social and environmental goals. Energy infrastructure is identified as critical component that underpins economic activity and growth across the country (IPP, 2013).

The IRP 2019 proposes a diverse energy mix to meet the South Africa’s electricity needs to 2030. It will add 39 696 MW to the national grid between 2019 and 2030. This is illustrated in figure 5 below (IPP, 2013). It has put forward that:

• 14 400 MW (45.7% of total new capacity by 2030) be procured from Wind,
• 6 000 MW (19.1% of total new capacity by 2030) from Solar photovoltaic (PV).

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy (in consultation with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa) determines new electrical energy generation capacity requirements, as allowed by Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act No.4 of 2006 (IPP, 2013).

Through these determinations, government through; The Independent Power Producer (IPP) office; procures additional capacity through a project auction programme called the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement programme (REIPPPP).

The IRP sets the platform for the diversification of energy generation technologies in the country in order to secure the required supply of energy. The country is preparing and executing various tactical programmes to transition justly to a green economy across various productive value chains.