Large Wind Farm Coming to Namibia

Namibia, a southern African nation best known for producing what are considered the highest quality diamonds in the world, has plans to take advantage of another natural resource: its windswept Atlantic coastline.

United Africa Group (UAG), a Namibian private equity firm with interests in commercial real estate, hotels, financial services and energy, and a consortium of Japanese and Korean power and venture capital firms, have signed an agreement to build a US$150 million wind farm in the country.

The 44-megawatt facility currently in the feasibility stage, will be constructed near the German colonial town of Lüderitz on Namibia's southwestern coast, a breezy location known for sailing and kitesurfing. If all goes as planned, the project will be completed and connected to the grid by 2013, adding more than 5% of capacity to its network.

This is UAG's second attempt to bring wind power to Namibia. In its first endeavor, the company partnered with Dutch businessman Leo van Gastel in 2007, but a lack of funding caused the would-be project—that would have generated enough energy to meet 25% of national energy needs—to ultimately be scrapped.

Like other African countries such as Ghana and Kenya, Namibia hopes to take advantage of its renewable energy potential. And Finland, one of Europe's clean power leaders, is providing funding to help Namibia set up 180 "energy shops" to bring off-grid solar power to impoverished remote areas of the country over the next 20 years.