Leo Carolus is a lucky young man in Lüderitz Town of Karas in southwest Namibia as he has a stable job near his home.

“Thanks to the Ombepo Wind Farm, I can now work so close to my home, which was previously unimaginable for me,” he said. Up on the mountain not far from his home, three wind turbines developed and installed by China’s Hunan-based XEMC Windpower Co. Ltd. have been operating for two years, which Carolus can see even from his home.

In the local Oshiwambo language, Ombepo means wind; but for Carolus, it means opportunity. After construction of the wind farm began in June 2017, the young man, who majored in electric power in the university, not only participated in the construction, but also joined the farm as a technician, in charge of the operation and maintenance of the wind turbines.

Lüderitz is a small port town in southwest Namibia. In 1908, the town drew global attention after diamonds were first discovered in Graspaltz, near Lüderitz. For decades, mining and fishery have been the pillar industries of Lüderitz. For people majoring in other disciplines like Carolus, it was very difficult to find a job near home. But things have changed after the Ombepo Wind Farm was established.

The wind farm was jointly established by Innosun Energy Holdings of France and local assembly of Lüderitz. As the equipment supplier, XEMC Windpower, a world leading company in large-scale wind turbine manufacturing, was responsible for designing, installing and testing wind turbines for the project. The whole project consists of seven wind turbines. In the first phase, three turbines were installed starting June 2017 and went into operation in September that year. The remaining four are expected to be installed in October this year. The design life of the turbines is 20 years and each can work to its full capacity for 4,300 hours a year. “A turbine of this model working to its full capacity for two days can generate enough electricity for the whole Lüderitz to use for nearly a week,” Li Ming, Director General of XEMC International Trade Co. Ltd., told ChinAfrica.

Energy shortage

Like many other African countries, Namibia suffers power shortage, which greatly hinders the country’s development. In order to fill the massive gap in the demand and supply of power, Namibia has to import electricity from South Africa. According to the International Energy Agency, two-thirds of the population in Namibia have no access to electric power, especially those in rural areas.

Gan Sheng, Senior Project Manager of XEMC International Trade Co. Ltd., has deep understanding of the power shortage in Namibia. While installing the wind turbines, he had to buy electricity in advance. “But sometimes, I could not even buy electricity for days, which usually influenced the installation process,” he said.

On the other hand, Namibia has abundant wind and solar resources, but the potential for power generation is yet to be fully tapped.

In order to accelerate the development of renewable energy and reduce power imports, Namibian President Hage Geingob launched the Harambee Prosperity Plan in April 2016, setting the goal of increasing local electricity generation capacity from 400 mw to 600 mw, providing electricity to all schools and health facilities by 2020, and raising the rural electrification rate from 34 percent in 2015 to 50 percent by 2020. To reach the goals, promoting the development of renewable energy including wind and solar has become the priority.

Thanks to its location near the vast desert with abundant wind resource, Lüderitz was the first place in Namibia to develop wind power, and the local government issued a series of policies to encourage wind power development. In this context, XEMC Windpower, with its abundant experience in developing wind turbines in the Chinese and European markets, got the opportunity to install wind turbines in Lüderitz. According to Gan, the turbines were specially redesigned to suit local environment, such as using intensified coating to resist sand storms, improving corrosion-resistant capacity and increasing hermeticity to prevent sand from entering the turbines.

A wind turbine produced by XEMC Windpower Co. Ltd. is installed in Lüderitz Town in Namibia (COURTESY)

Overcoming challenges

During the process of the construction of the Ombepo Wind Farm, besides the need to bring advanced technologies and experiences to Namibia, Gan and his colleagues also faced a series of challenges such as poor weather and backward industrial infrastructure.

For instance, strong wind is good for generating power, but not for installing wind turbines. Thus, Gan and his team decided to install the turbines in winter when the wind was not so strong. Even so, they had to wait for the best wind conditions. “We could only install wind turbines when the wind speed is less than 8 meters per second. But on several occasions, after having spent one to two hours on the preparation work, the wind grew stronger, and we had to put down the turbines and wait,” said Gan. They once stayed on the field for more than 24 hours just to wait for the wind to stop.

In addition, due to poor industrial infrastructure, procuring turbine parts could also be a problem as they could not be produced locally. The team had to bring more parts in advance for the installation. Even so, they still faced the problem of lack of certain parts sometimes, and had to stop the work and wait for the parts to arrive from China. In addition, poor Internet access also influenced the testing of the equipment. According to Gan, he had to buy more than 10 SIM cards in order to use the cellphone hotspot to test the controlling system of the wind farm.

But Gan and his colleagues’ hard work paid off. After nearly four months of efforts, the three wind turbines were put into operation. During the past two years, the three turbines have generated more than 21.5 million kwh for residents and factories in Lüderitz.

“Namibia, as a tourist destination, attaches great importance to environmental protection and that’s why they chose the wind energy, which is environmentally friendly and pollution-free. This wind farm project will help Namibia develop the new energy sector in the future,” said Gan.

Social benefits

The Ombepo Wind Farm not only brings clean energy to Lüderitz, but also opens a window for Namibian people to learn about wind power generation.

Recently, the farm became a hot spot for tourists coming to Lüderitz. The town is surrounded by the vast Namib Desert on the north, east and south, and faces the Atlantic Ocean to the west. People can see the turbines when they enter the small town. After the wind farm was constructed, many people specially came here to see the turbines. Some of them even drove there from Windhoek, the Namibian capital. In addition, the farm also cooperates with some schools and universities so that students can do on-site investigation at the farm. Students can gain basic knowledge about wind power and have opportunities to operate the turbines under the direction of technicians. Many students have shown great interest in wind power generation and even asked if they could have an opportunity to study in China.

In addition, local people have been trained in wind turbine installation and operation since the farm began construction. While installing the turbines, Chinese engineers gave hands-on training to local employees, greatly improving their skills and knowledge about wind energy. According to Gan, more than 70 Namibian and South African staff participated in the installation work. After the installation, three of them, including Carolus, stayed on as permanent staff of the wind farm, responsible for the operation and maintenance of wind turbines. With the implementation of the second phase of the farm, more jobs will be created.

(Comments to niyanshuo@chinafrica.cn)