InnoSun Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of the French company InnoVent, is starting work on the construction of a 9.8 MW solar farm at Trekkopje in Namibia. The facility will supply the French group Orano's desalination plant in the Erongo region.
InnoSun Energy Holdings is to increase its installed capacity in Namibia. The subsidiary of French company InnoVent is starting work on the construction of a 9.8 MW solar farm at Trekkopje, in the Erongo region. The aim of the project is to supply clean electricity to the Erongo water desalination plant owned by Orano (formerly Areva), the French uranium giant.
A year ago, InnoSun signed a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Orano for a 5 MW solar power plant, which will also power its desalination plant at Wlotzkasbaken in the Erongo region of western Namibia.
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The desalination plant was built to supply fresh water to the Trekkopje uranium mine via 40 km of pipes, water being a very scarce resource in the Namib desert. But the mine, whose deposit was overestimated by Areva, never went into operation. “The installations are mothballed until the uranium market is more favourable,” says Orano.
In the meantime, the treated water is sold to Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater), which distributes it to Swakopmund, neighbouring mines and other areas in the Erongo region. The Erongo desalination plant cost 2.5 billion Namibian dollars (around 153 million US dollars) to build.
The Trekkopje wind farm will add to the installed capacity of InnoSun, which already operates the 5 MW Ombepo wind farm. In total, its parent company InnoVent has an installed capacity of 25 MW in Namibia. The company, headed by Grégoire Verhaeghe, also boasts a portfolio of 700 MW of projects under development in the southern African country.
Jean Marie Takouleu
