MTC Teams up with PoN for Wind Study in Namibia

Mobile Telecommunications firm MTC is providing technical support and equipment to the Namibia’s National Wind Resource Assessment Project. The collaboration follows a commitment by both parties to use renewable energy to curb the country’s growing energy needs.

The project, begun in 2009 by the Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN) is geared towards determining the amount of wind available to convert to electricity in Namibia, according to a report in Namibia’s Informante. PoN’s contribution is largely coming from its previous project, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Capacity Building Program, funded by the Royal Danish Embassy in Pretoria.

MTC will supply and install the measuring equipment on the masts of 16 measurement sites. The company will also oversee data management and analysis and eventually develop a series of regional wind atlases. The results of the project will be a set of wind resource data that is to be presented in the form of regional wind atlases.

At the signing ceremony of the agreement, the vice rector of PoN Dr. Gert Gunzel, said the research is intended to gather foundation data for the country’s growing wind energy sector.

“The wind resource knowledge derived from this project will ensure investment decisions by wind energy developers are quick and less rigorous, while policy makers will be able to make informed decisions, knowing for example what kind of energy technology is to be deployed where,” Gunzel said. He also expressed his frustration with the country’s current lack of power.

“It is a puzzle to imagine that Namibia, with all its vast natural resources including wind solar and solid wood biomass, experiences power deficits,” he told Informante. “In order for the optimum and sustainable development of these resources there must be solid information that institutions such as the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Institute at the Polytechnic must generate.”