Mariental Solar Power Station

The Mariental Solar Power Station is a 45.5 MW solar power plant in Namibia. The project is owned and was developed by a consortium of various IPPs and the Namibian electricity utility company, NamPower.

Location
The power station is located outside of the town of Mariental, approximately 12.5 km, southeast of the town centre, along the road to Bulwana (M29).

This is approximately 238 km, north of Keetmanshoop, along the B1 highway to Vioolsdrif, at the international border with South Africa.

The power station is located about 276 km, southeast of Windhoek, the capital and largest city in Namibia. The geographical coordinates of Mariental Solar Power Station are 24°39'10.0"S, 18°01'38.0"E (Latitude:-24.652778, Longitude:18.027222).

Overview
The power station, which occupies about 100 ha is designed to have capacity of 45.5 megawatts. The power purchase agreement with the government of Namibia specifies that 37 megawatts are supplied to NamPower, for integration into the national grid.

Developers
The power station was developed by a consortium called Alten Energy Consortium (AEC). The table below illustrates the shareholding in AEC, as of June 2019.

The three Namibian investment companies are owned by women and represent Namibians, who were previously marginalised.

Construction costs, and commissioning
Construction started in 2018 and the power station was commissioned on 20 June 2019. Standard Bank of South Africa and Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence française de développement (French Development Agency), provided loans and bank guarantees for the development of this renewable energy infrastructure project.