Namibia is making progress in its rural electrification program, a new report said.
The report on renewable energy efficiency in the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) said Namibia has made slow but steady progress toward electrifying the rural population.
“In Namiba, a country of low population density, the challenge is to provide electricity access to the 79 percent of the population that does not have access by establishing feasible and maintainable off-grid solution,” the report said.
“In rural and remote areas where neither the main grid nor the mini-grids are available, consumers depend on standalone electricity sources, mainly diesel generators. The use of solar technologies seem to have increased and hybrid solar-and-diesel systems have proven useful,” it said.
According to the report, although Namibia’s urban dwellers have access to portable lighting, the same cannot be said for those living in rural areas, who constitute the bulk of country’s 2.6 million residents. Enditem
