It is a major milestone for the sister company of German solar consulting company Suntrace on its way towards becoming an independent power producer. SunEQ has structured the financing substantially from local Namibian sources, both in terms of equity and debt. Namibia Infrastructure Finance Limited (NIFCO), an unlisted infrastructure investment company targeting renewable energy projects in Namibia (jointly established and owned by Old Mutual Investment Group Namibia and IJG Capital), has a shareholding of 60%, together with a Namibian Empowerment Partner Hungileni Investment holding 30% and SunEQ holding 10%. The Co-Developer and EPC-Contractor is GILDEMEISTER Energy Solutions GmbH, a subsidiary of DMG Mori.
The captive power plant is located next to the Ohorongo Cement factory in the Otjozondjupa region. The plant will be equipped with approximately 20,000 crystalline silicon modules mounted on a tracking system and an installed capacity of 6.5 MWDC for an output of 5 MWAC. Once it starts commercial operation, which has been scheduled for end of June 2018, an estimated 14 GWh per year of clean electricity will be fed into the electricity grid of Ohorongo Cement.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Matthias Schwara, SunEQ
e of solar projects in Africa.