The United Nations Development Programme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, has concluded the implementation of a Japan-funded project.

The project also seeks to enhance the resilience of communities to climate shocks and allow for low-emission market linkages and upscaling of actors in the renewable energy space.

The Japan-funded project provided ten solar-powered electric bicycles and 65,000 square meters of PV-powered drip irrigation systems to the Namibia University of Science and Technology.  

Prof. Erold Naomab, the Vice Chancellor of NUST, emphasised that while this will bring relief, more equipment is needed for the Namibia Energy Institute to achieve its objectives.

"To bring the Namibia Energy Institute (NEI) technical laboratory to international standards, additional training materials and equipment are still needed. The aim is to establish one central, fully equipped green energy laboratory in Windhoek that can serve both TVET institutions and universities nationwide."

The project also empowers communities with skills in renewable energy as well as in innovative solutions to deal with climate change and climate shocks. 

"These solutions included solar-powered pumping and irrigation solutions, electronic mobility solutions to enable market linkages, solar-powered coal storage to reduce post-harvest loss and enabling access to skills in the renewable energy space," said Shinichi Asazuma, Japan's Ambassador to Namibia.

He further added that through the provision of electric bikes to selected sites, the project enabled low emissions and access to the market.

This project also brought about collaboration with the Namibia Energy Institute to improve the productive capacities of MSMEs and industry experts in the renewable energy and green hydrogen sectors.

It also strengthens the capacity of vocational training and higher education institutions through the provision of advanced laboratory equipment.