ALTEN Africa donates medical supplies to the Namibian government to help in the fight against COVID-19

  • The medical supplies, comprising surgical masks and hydroalcoholic gel, were donated by the company to the government of Namibia at an event hosted by the Prime Minister, the Hon. Saara Kuugongelwa.
  • The donation is in line with ALTEN Energías Renovables’ corporate Social Investment policy to assist the population of the regions where the company operates.
  • ALTEN Africa owns and operates the 45MWp Hardap photovoltaic solar plant, the biggest in Namibia.
  • The plant, which occupies a land area of 100 hectares, has an estimated annual production of 116 GWh. This is enough energy to supply a population of 87,000 people (over 3% of Namibia’s total population).

Windhoek, 1st June 2020.- The international company ALTEN Africa, an independent solar power producer using PV technology, has donated face masks and bottles of hand sanitizer to the Namibian government. With this donation the company is providing the healthcare supplies needed to stop contagion of COVID-19, and thus to support Namibian health professionals and the public in the fight against the spread of the virus in the country.

The medical supplies donated were handed over by the company to the Namibian government at an event hosted by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia, the Hon. Saara Kuugongelwa. Mario Rodriguez, ALTEN’s representative for southern Africa, made the donation on behalf of the company. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia, the Hon Saara Kuugongelwa, expressed her appreciation to ALTEN Africa for its altruistic donation to the population of Namibia.

ALTEN Africa owns and runs a 45 MWp photovoltaic solar plant in Mariental municipality, the capital of the Hardap region. The plant is currently the largest in Namibia and one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa (outside South Africa). It delivers 116 GWh of clean electricity per year which it uploads onto the grid. This is enough energy to meet the annual electricity needs of 87,000 Namibians (around 3% of the country’s population). Furthermore, the plant avoids the emission of 33,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere every year.

ALTEN Africa’s commitment to Namibia

Hardap solar plant began operating in November 2018 and was officially opened by the Minister of Mines and Energy of the Republic of Namibia. In line with ALTEN Africa’s corporate Community Relations policy, the project has established long-term relationships right from the outset with local communities and has endeavoured to identify opportunities to maximise the positive impacts and to build on their shared value and sustainable development. This is one of the ways in which ALTEN Africa is contributing to local economic development, social progress and the environmental protection of the area affected by each of its projects. This is demonstrated in the case of the Hardap PV plant, where the workforce is overwhelmingly local, both in the construction phase (over 96% of construction workers were Namibians) and during the current operations and maintenance (O&M) phase (in which 90% of current positions at the plant are filled by Namibians). Faced with a pandemic like COVID-19, ALTEN Africa is sticking to its commitments; applying its Social Investment policy and the funds allocated to support it to making healthcare supplies available to the Namibian government to help prevent new contagions.

 

About ALTEN Africa

ALTEN Africa is part of the ALTEN Energías Renovables group, one of the most active independent power producers (IPP) on the international stage, specialising in the development, financing, construction and operating of photovoltaic solar plants in competitive environments, mainly in Latin America (through its ALTEN America subsidiary) and sub-Saharan Africa (through ALTEN Africa). The group is closing the financing on 350 MWp (Mexico and Kenya) and has a pipeline of 1 GW at various stages of development.

 

About ALTEN

ALTEN Energías Renovables is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) specialising in photovoltaic solar energy, with offices in Spain, the Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Mexico and Mozambique. It has extensive expertise in the development, financing, construction and operation of PV power plants in challenging environments. The company has a 350 MWp photovoltaic solar plant in operation in Mexico in the state of Aguascalientes that has been operating since 2018, and a 300 MWp photovoltaic plant in the state of Puebla, at the financial closure stage. In Europe, the company has been operating a plant in El Casar/Guadalajara (Spain) since 2019 and has a pipeline of 300 MW at different stages of development (including Portugal, Italy and Spain).In sub Saharan Africa the company has been operating another 45.5MWp plant in Namibia since 2019 and is on the point of completing the refinancing of a 55 MWp plant in Kenya. It is leading a 157 MWp project at an advanced stage of development in Nigeria with a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed with NBET (Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader), while PPA negotiations are underway with EDM on a 40 MWp project in Cuamba (Mozambique). ALTEN has a pipeline of more than 1 GW at various stages of development in Africa, Mexico and Europe.