The Ministry of Works and Transport has started a pilot project to implement solar energy carports, aimed at reducing energy costs and promoting sustainability. 

The project is expected to save the ministry a substantial amount of money on electricity expenses and serve as a model for future energy-efficient endeavours across various government ministries.

The solar energy carport project, which cost the Ministry more than half a million dollars, involves the installation of 32 solar panels on carports to harness the Namibian sunshine. 

The Executive Director of the Ministry of Works and Transport, Esther Kaapanda, elaborated on the motivation behind this initiative. 

"We are migrating to the use of renewable energy, and as you know, we have the ample sun, and they always say the sun will never send you an invoice, especially if you harvest the renewable energy from the sun, so we are part of that evolution to make use of the natural resources that we are given, in this case the sun. Hence, we are piloting the renewable energy infrastructure, taking into consideration that electricity is quite costly, and with the financial resources available to the Ministry, we want to use it optimally."

Kaapanda explained that while the project is currently in its pilot phase and undergoing in-house refinement, there are plans to expand it to other ministries once it is perfected.

Deputy Director of Engineering Services, Ndangi Iileka, highlighted the long-term benefits of the project.

"So we have the solar PV panels consolidating the solar radiance and converting it to electricity, We have an invertor here which diverts current electricity into what we use and then we connect this whole electricity to our distribution board in the building and basically the electricity this building is consuming during the day time its coming from the solar PV so it makes sense because we are in office during the day and while we are at work lets use the electricity from the sun."