NamPower Breaks Ground on Namibia’s Largest 100-MW Sores Gaib Solar

• NamPower starts building the 100 MW Sores Gaib solar park, Namibia’s largest, funded by KfW and due online in 2026 to cut imports and CO₂ emissions.

Namibia took a decisive step toward energy self-reliance this week as state-owned utility NamPower officially launched construction of the 100-megawatt Sores |Gaib Solar Power Station near Rosh Pinah in the arid ǁKaras Region. Valued at roughly N$1.6 billion (US $88 million), the photovoltaic plant is set to become the country’s biggest solar facility and its first utility-scale project developed entirely by NamPower. 

Financing for Sores Gaib—whose name means “Power of the Sun” in Khoekhoegowab—combines a N$1.3 billion concessional loan from Germany’s development bank KfW with equity from NamPower’s balance sheet. The engineering, procurement and construction contract, awarded to a Chinese joint venture, allocates at least 25 % of spending to local suppliers. More than 300 on-site jobs are expected during the 18-month build-out, which targets commercial operation by June 2026. 

Occupying about 250 acres of high-irradiance desert just 30 km northwest of the zinc-mining town of Rosh Pinah, the array should produce roughly 270 GWh of electricity a year—enough to cover the typical consumption of 70,000 Namibian households while avoiding an estimated 230,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. All output will feed directly into the national grid, easing Namibia’s heavy reliance on imports from South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which currently supply almost half of its 700-MW peak demand.

Managing director Kahenge Haulofu called the groundbreaking “a turning-point for our energy security,” noting that firm domestic generation will help stabilise future tariffs and shield the economy from regional supply shocks. Analysts add that Sores Gaib marks a strategic pivot away from past diesel and coal purchases toward the abundant solar resource that blankets southern Namibia: average annual irradiation tops 2,200 kWh per square metre, among the world’s highest.

The project also dovetails with Namibia’s pledge to raise the share of renewables in its generation mix to 70 % by 2030, up from about 40 % today. Success here is expected to unlock further solar and green-hydrogen ventures, positioning the sparsely populated nation as a future clean-power exporter to the region.