Networking, Namibian Style

Due (I think) to some really great begging done on my side, I managed to wrangle an invitation to last weeks Namibian Energy Policy Forum. It was hosted by NCCI and GIZ ("The first renewable energy conference organized by NCCI...and GIZ! German taxpayer money sponsored the event!" says one of my colleagues - wonder how the Germans feel about that??)

IT WAS SO COOL.

Those of you who know me know that renewable energy is basically what I want to do with my life. This forum was attended by the Namibian Minister of Mines and Energy, Minister of Trade and Industry, GM of NamPower (Namibian energy monopoly), CEO of NCCI, Minister of Finance and about 50 other private and public businessowners, policymakers etc. It was absolutely the coolest thing. And more impressive than anything (to me) was the fact that we managed, while remaining polite, to overstep some of the bureaucratic nonsense that takes up half of most meetings here, and really discuss some of the issues among key players.

For any of you who are interested, here are a few of the highlights from the conference.

1. The conference was opened by noting the relationship between energy capacity and employment and wealth in a country (especially as a country is still developing industrial capacity, as in Namibia). Although this seems obvious, I thought it astute of the keynote speaker to bring it up immediately as a concern. Another minister addressed energy needs for the "socio-economic upliftment of the people" - kind of just using words, but a good point nonetheless.

2. We went through some shocking statistics. Namibia has the HIGHEST solar irradiation in the world. Yet we pay the third highest amount for electricity in SADC (Southern African Development Community), while South Africa (whom we buy energy from) pays the lowest. We also pay about 3 times more than the US per kWh. Clearly a country like Namibia will struggle to industrialize while in such a position.

3. The maximum energy demand from Namibia is around 500 MW (excluding some of the big mines). This is a country of 2 million. PECO (the electric company for the Philadelphia area) has almost 4,500 MW to serve the same population. But our electricity is still not local - we import from Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, etc. And, even though Namibia is arguably more developed than our neighboring countries, we still don't seem to be planning for energy independence.

4. Namibia is talkign about the Market as a means to find efficiency. It's wonderful. Right now NamPower is a politically appointed monopoly in terms of electricity, but people are still talking about ways around that.

5. Smaller ideas emerged as well. The government is currently pursuing a mass housing project; why not include solar hot water heaters on all houses? (I didn't know that all ministry houses now are required to be built with solar heaters. How cool is that?!)

I am proud to start getting involved in this field. It is becoming, more than ever, apparent how much we will struggle to incorporate renewable technologies into every field of life; however it is also apparent how hard some people are working to accomplish just that. I made a few connections of my own and am hoping to be able to work with a few Namibian organizations to pursue these things in the next year while I am here!