INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
ALTEN Africa Completes
Financing of Solar PV Plant
in Namibia
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A
LTEN Africa has completed the
financing of what will be one of the
biggest photovoltaic solar power
plants in Namibia and Sub Sahara Africa.
Located in the area around Mariental, the
installed capacity will be 45.5 MWp for an
output of 37 MWac, an investment forecast
of US$70 million and a useful life of over
25 years.
The plant will use around 140,000 crystalline
silicon panels mounted on solar trackers and
will be of the most efficient in the world due
to the zone’s very high radiation levels.
It was put out for tender by NamPower, the
country’s state-owned electricity company,
which also holds a 19% stake. The power
produced by the new plant will meet 3% of
the country’s energy needs.
ALTEN Africa has a majority stake (51%) in
the investment vehicle (ALTEN Hardap), in
which NamPower also has a stake (19%),
together with local investors First Place,
Mangrove and Talyeni (30%) led by eight
Namibian women. They are professionals and
businesswomen, aged between 35 and 55,
who have seen in this project an opportunity
to acquire know-how and to invest in cutting-
edge technologies that will drive forward their
country’s economic growth.
ALTEN Africa, a wholly-owned affiliate of
ALTEN Energías Renovables, which focuses
its activity on emerging countries in Sub-
Saharan Africa and Latin America, closed
a deal at the beginning of the year with
Inspired Evolution, whose fund Evolution II
will initially co-invest US$36 million to drive
the development of this independent power
producer (IPP) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Once it starts commercial operations,
scheduled for September 2018, around
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112GWh of clean electricity will be uploaded
onto Namibia’s national grid, enough to
meet the annual electricity needs of over
70,000 Namibians. The plant will also avoid
the emission into the atmosphere of 33,000
metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent, during
every year of its useful life.
Namibia has one of the best electricity
infrastructures in Africa and a high level of
electrification, but it is also very dependent
on imported energy. The new infrastructure
will make the country’s energy mix more
balanced and reduce its energy dependency
on other countries in the region by nearly 5%.
“This achievement builds on the solid
commitment being made by ALTEN
Energías Renovables to Sub-Saharan Africa.
We expect to have excellent results over
the next few years, thanks to the support
of Inspired Evolution, which gives ALTEN
Africa a specialist partner with a team that
has experience in the regional market and
a track record of close to 1 GW, in clean
energy infrastructure investments,” said
Juan Laso, Executive President of ALTEN
Energías Renovables.
Luis Castellanos, CEO of ALTEN Africa,
added: “We will be proud to work with
NamPower and our local partners on this
challenge and we are sure that, in a question
of months, it will demonstrate the enormous
potential of PV technology to meet the
area’s energy needs.” n
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