Senior engineer for power supply at the Electricity Control Board (ECB), Lameka Amuanyena has revealed that Namibia’s new electricity connections are currently in the range of 2,000 – 4,000 connections per annum which drastically falls short of the country’s bid to achieve universal access by 2040.
At this rate, Amuanyena noted that by 2040, only 40,000 – 80,000 new connections against the target of 600,000 connections will be achieved
“To achieve the target, we need about 30,000 new connections (10 times what we are doing now) and of 600,000 new connections needed, 450,000 need to be grid-based and 150,000 to be off-grid connections,” he said last week.
Electrification in recent years has been done by MME, NamPower and to a lesser extent by investments made by distributors
“Thus more needs to be done,” emphasised Amuanyena.
Namibia’s overall electrification rate is estimated to be about 50%. This means that about 300 000 households are still un-electrified.
OPTIMISM
Executive Director in the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), Simeon Negumbo has told delegates at the recently held electrification day that in-line with government goals, the MME has set a target to have all the households in Namibia electrified by 2040 to achieve what in the industry is called universal access.
“Electrification is a national challenge and one which the government through the Ministry of Mines and Energy is committed to take on. To this end, the Harambee Prosperity Plan has sat targets to put the framework in place to speed up the rate of electrification.
“Our estimates are that between 70 – 80% of our rural households do not have the kind of access brought to you today (The figures in urban localities are much better, around 70% of households in urban areas are connected to the grid),” he said adding that this is a great number of people that do not have the means to hit a switch and have lights on so their children can study at night or cook using modern stoves or preserve their food and drinks in a refrigerator or run a barber shop or salon that requires electricity to make money and support their families.
He went on to say that it might seem to have been a very long time to reach desired electrification rate but taking the limited resources and the competing needs for rural electrification into consideration, every little milestones count as an achievement.
“Today’s event signifies the beginning of another milestone where the electricity supply industry stakeholders, our development partners, local and international financing institutions get together to deliberate on the possible solutions to our electrification challenge.
“Achieving universal access is easier said than done. Namibia is a very large country and has a very small population, as a country we have a population density of around 3 persons per square kilometer. Extending the grid to all the corners of our country in this context is very expensive, as electricity infrastructure must be maintained and replaced when it gets old,” Negumbo said.
NEED FOR COLLABORATION
Negumbo further acknowledged that this is a daunting task and called for more coordination and involvement from all stakeholders (commercial banks, development partners, and developmental financial institutions, local and international financing institutions).
“It’s only through concerted efforts and dedication from all the stakeholders that we will reach this target of ours and maintain our infrastructure for the benefit of all.
“I should notably highlight that although it is hard to imagine real development without electricity, the presence of electricity is by no means a pledge for development. It will be up to our own individual choices that high electrification rates will translate into the necessary economic development. On that account I plead to the business community members to see it as their ultimate duty to ensure that they utilize the benefits of electricity and transform it into substantial economic initiatives,” he said.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Jens Jaeger, director of policy and business development at Alliance for Rural Electrification said access to sustainable electricity for all in Africa requires bringing connections to over 90 million people a year.
Jaeger said 43% of the total population lacks access to electricity, most of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa.
She said extending the main grid to remote areas is made expensive by various factors, including the high unit cost of serving sparsely populated regions, challenging terrain and infrastructure and poverty that is three times higher in rural areas, which limits the ability of rural communities to pay for electricity.
The goal of universal access to modern energy in Africa calls for investments of US$25 billion per year, around 1% of global energy investment today.