Photo by: Duane Daws
Namibian power utility NamPower has issued a request for information (RFI) from prospective solar water heater (SWH) suppliers to enable it to expand, amend and finalise the technical specifications for its 20 000 solar water heater (20kSWH) campaign.
The 20kSWH campaign, which NamPower would start rolling out in April, was one of four campaigns under the utility’s demand side management project, aimed at reducing the demand on the NamPower network during peak times and cost effectively dealing with the country’s electricity supply constraints.
Through the 20kSWH campaign, the utility planned to incentivise the replacement of 20 000 domestic electric water heaters with SWHs by providing a rebate to the SWH beneficiary.
“The intent of the rebate is to reduce the initial capital hurdle, thus increasing the probability of SWH take-up,” NamPower said.
The replacement process would be driven by the end-user, who would approach installers of accredited SWH products for quotations. These quotations would have already been discounted by the approved NamPower rebate.
The power utility said the campaign would be completed within five years, with the tail end of the campaign designed to include longer-term activities to ensure the sustainability of the campaign and its main outcomes.
SWH suppliers who were interested in participating in the RFI could do so until January 31; however, nonparticipation would not disqualify or disadvantage any supplier that intended to participate in the ultimate prequalification process, NamPower indicated.