Namibia's Energy Challenges - Foundation Office Namibia and Angola
Event Reports
The event was hosted by the Bank of Namibia and brought together numerous participants and experts from parliament, the industry, civil society, the media and the interested public. After Mr. Shiimi, Governor of the Bank of Namibia and host of the workshop, delivered some welcoming words to the audience, the event was officially opened by Dr. Bernd Althusmann, Head of the KAS office Namibia & Angola.
First speaker of the day was Mrs. Carol-Ann Esterhuizen, Chief Legal Officer at the National Assembly, who delivered a speech on the Parliamentary Exchange Program to Germany that she participated in in November 2015 in order to gain a practical insight experience in renewable energy solutions and network. The event was also graced by the presence of Hon. Sophia Swartz, Member of Parliament, who also participated in the exchange and shared her experiences and lessons learnt with the interested audience.
Afterwards, the invited experts Harald Schuett (“The impact of RE and EE on the national economy”), Dr. Detlof von Oertzen (“Renewable energy and energy efficiency in rural Namibia”) and Prof. Ruppel ("Decarbonisation and energy security - what does it need to make things work?”) spoke on their respective topics, answered numerous questions from the audience and engaged in animated discussions with the participants.
However, the workshop didn’t only have the function of debating energy security and renewable energies in Namibia, but also served to launch the updated 2nd edition of our publication “Perspectives on Energy Security and Renewable Energies in Sub-Saharan Africa” which deals with the mounting role of energy independence in politics and sub-Saharan Africa’s immense potential of renewable energy resources. The book was officially presented by its editors Dr. Bernd Althusmann and Prof. Ruppel from the University of Stellenbosch.
