Namibia is taking major steps to harness its oil and gas potential as the country moves to secure its position as Africa’s energy frontier hotspot, an official said late Thursday.
Speaking at the ongoing African Energy Week (AEW) 2022 conference in Cape Town, Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) chief executive Nangula Uaandja said Namibia is home to co-located onshore solar and wind power potential and is offered extensive opportunities in renewable energy.
He said the Windhoek authorities have set a target of adding between three and five gigawatts “of new solar capacity and deriving 70 percent of installed capacity from renewable energy by 2030.”
“Our ambition is to become the energy capital of Africa,” Uaandja said.
While Namibia does not yet produce oil, its offshore basins bear an uncanny resemblance to Brazil’s prolific oil fields and have yielded several discoveries driving further offshore development interest.
Earlier this year, both Shell and TotalEnergies made commercial discoveries in the Graff and Venus prospects, respectively, estimated to hold billions of barrels of oil.
The country is also home to the Kudu gas field development and gas-to-power project, which is being developed by BW Energy to transport gas by pipeline to an 800-megawatt power station in southern Namibia.
“The new discoveries we have at this stage are just the beginning of an era in terms of the potential for the hydrocarbons we have as a nation,” Ministry of Mines and Energy petroleum commissioner Maggy Shino told the gathering of industry experts from across Africa.
AEW 2022 is an interactive exhibition and networking event that seeks to unite African energy stakeholders, drive industry growth and development, and promote the continent as a destination for investment in the energy sector.
The four-day high-level conference, which commenced on Tuesday and was due to end on Friday, comprised networking sessions, innovative exhibitions and one-on-one private meetings and drew industry delegates, movers and shakers and African and global industry leaders and speakers from the energy, oil and gas sector.
JN/APA