Better solar R&D on the way

Karibu Kwetu Solar Trading (KKST) is a Namibian social enterprise on a mission to revolutionise communities across Namibia and Africa by providing cutting-edge renewable energy solutions. The company has announced its pending partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) to explore Micro-Concentrated Photovoltaic (Micro-CPV) technology in Namibia.According to Karibu Kwetu, Fraunhofer ISE, a leading European applied solar-energy research institute, “has expressed strong interest in demonstrating its proprietary Micro-CPV technology, which delivers up to 43% higher conversion efficiency than conventional photovoltaics.”The local company says it is in advanced collaborative discussions to demonstrate the technology locally. “This engagement forms part of the Project Baobab framework, an initiative aimed at establishing Africa’s first solar-powered artificial intelligence research cluster,” reads a recent statement issued by the enterprise.“The proposed collaboration seeks to align this breakthrough technology with Namibia’s growing research and innovation ecosystem, supported by KKST’s renewable energy expertise and NUST’s academic leadership in digital transformation. Through Project Baobab, the consortium aims to pioneer a sustainable energy model for artificial intelligence workloads, generating real-time data on the energy cost, performance and carbon footprint of AI computation in an African context,” the statement continues.Shared visionKaribu Kwetu describes the initiative as a significant step towards integrating clean energy and artificial intelligence as drivers of inclusive economic growth. By leveraging Namibia’s exceptional solar conditions, the partners aim to create a living laboratory for sustainable innovation, one that strengthens technical capacity, fosters new research opportunities and supports youth skills development in both green energy and emerging digital fields. This initiative demonstrates how people-to-people collaboration between Namibia and Germany can accelerate scientific and technological partnerships of mutual benefit.Aliela Muyembe, CEO of KKST, stated: “Our ongoing discussions with Fraunhofer ISE and NUST represent a shared vision, one where clean energy powers intelligence, and innovation serves people and planet. Namibia is uniquely positioned to demonstrate how artificial intelligence can be developed and deployed sustainably.”Micro-Concentrated Photovoltaic (Micro-CPV) technology uses arrays of miniaturised lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto tiny, high-efficiency, multi-junction solar cells. According to powerinfotoday.com, these miniature solar cells have the potential to generate far more electricity per unit area than traditional cells, while using less raw material. “In areas with intense, direct sunlight, their performance benefit is particularly large,” an August 2025 article noted.High efficiencyKey characteristics of the technology include scaling down both solar cells and the accompanying focusing lenses and mirrors to the millimetre or even sub-millimetre range. Concentrated sunlight allows high-efficiency, multi-junction cells to achieve conversion efficiencies more than 35% higher than conventional silicon panels. Reductions in the amount of semiconductor material required per watt of power generated, along with improvements in manufacturing and assembly, help drive costs down.Meanwhile, more efficient heat dissipation and lower operating temperatures extend the lifespan of these systems.Project Baobab is a new initiative to build Africa’s first solar-powered artificial intelligence (AI) cluster, purpose-built to transform healthcare, agriculture, and public infrastructure through sustainable, sovereign digital capacity. The cluster will be powered by a 550 kW solar array and CMBlu flow batteries. It will house eight AMD MI300X GPUs, delivering 1.5 TB of VRAM to support high-performance, high-impact AI applications across key national sectors, according to Karibu Kwetu.In-countryThe company emphasises that Project Baobab will ensure all data generated, processed and stored remains in-country. Healthcare, agriculture, energy, and mining are among the sectors targeted by the project, which aims to position Namibia as a Southern African leader in clean-powered, AI-enabled innovation.“This is about more than AI. It’s about national security and ownership in the digital age,” said Christian Spangenberg, chief technology officer at KKST. “By keeping data local and infrastructure community-owned, Namibia protects its future while unlocking growth.”

Better solar R&D on the way

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-11-04

Please login to leave a comment

Better solar R&D on the way

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-11-04

Please login to leave a comment

Subscription Required to Access Content ×

Login

Subscription Required to Access Content