Namibia to award largest tender for renewable energy
ELLANIE SMIT
WINDHOEK
Namibia is about to award the largest tender in the country’s history - in record time - to accelerate the deployment of innovative technology in the development of renewable energy and related value chains.
President Hage Geingob said this signifies acceptance that there is no more scope for ‘business as usual’ in these dire times.
He was speaking at the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26). The conference is being held in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November.
“As government, our role is to facilitate the development of our green and blue economies and, to this end, we decided to prioritise the urgent development of green hydrogen assets in Namibia to manufacture the critical electrons and molecules needed to decarbonise our energy systems.”
He said the request for proposal floated recently advocated for speed and urgency, challenging interested developers to state their ambitions in terms of the scale of electrolyser deployment within a short period of time.
“We required them to provide visibility with regards to offtake agreements to ascertain the viability of their business cases. In keeping with our respect for the environment, we rewarded developers for illustrating how all this would be done in harmony with the flora and fauna of the Tsau ?Khaeb National Park (Sperrgebiet).”
In other words, they championed policy and supporting legislation that accelerated the deployment of clean technology and looked to foster innovative approaches to decarbonise Namibia and the broader global energy landscape, Geingob said.
30k potential jobs
The proposals received estimated the number of potential jobs to be in excess of 30 000, more than doubling the region’s existing levels of employment.
“More profoundly, they also paid homage to the people of that region and advocated for the formation of a regional development fund, over and above the requirement to contribute to Namibia’s soon-to-be-launched sovereign wealth fund.”
The president said this sort of public private-sector collaboration captures the essence of a just and equitable energy transition.
“To ensure that we capture as much of the value chain locally as possible for our citizens, we have established a national green hydrogen research institute which will inculcate the latest cutting-edge technologies into the classrooms and syllabi of our tertiary institutions,” Geingob said.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
Namibia is about to award the largest tender in the country’s history - in record time - to accelerate the deployment of innovative technology in the development of renewable energy and related value chains.
President Hage Geingob said this signifies acceptance that there is no more scope for ‘business as usual’ in these dire times.
He was speaking at the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26). The conference is being held in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November.
“As government, our role is to facilitate the development of our green and blue economies and, to this end, we decided to prioritise the urgent development of green hydrogen assets in Namibia to manufacture the critical electrons and molecules needed to decarbonise our energy systems.”
He said the request for proposal floated recently advocated for speed and urgency, challenging interested developers to state their ambitions in terms of the scale of electrolyser deployment within a short period of time.
“We required them to provide visibility with regards to offtake agreements to ascertain the viability of their business cases. In keeping with our respect for the environment, we rewarded developers for illustrating how all this would be done in harmony with the flora and fauna of the Tsau ?Khaeb National Park (Sperrgebiet).”
In other words, they championed policy and supporting legislation that accelerated the deployment of clean technology and looked to foster innovative approaches to decarbonise Namibia and the broader global energy landscape, Geingob said.
30k potential jobs
The proposals received estimated the number of potential jobs to be in excess of 30 000, more than doubling the region’s existing levels of employment.
“More profoundly, they also paid homage to the people of that region and advocated for the formation of a regional development fund, over and above the requirement to contribute to Namibia’s soon-to-be-launched sovereign wealth fund.”
The president said this sort of public private-sector collaboration captures the essence of a just and equitable energy transition.
“To ensure that we capture as much of the value chain locally as possible for our citizens, we have established a national green hydrogen research institute which will inculcate the latest cutting-edge technologies into the classrooms and syllabi of our tertiary institutions,” Geingob said.
[email protected]
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