Namibia banks $1.2bn in clean energy as power bills climb
Namibia attracted $1.2 billion in clean energy investment between 2023 and 2025, new data from BloombergNEF shows, placing the country among the more active renewable energy destinations in sub-Saharan Africa even as regional heavyweights South Africa and Nigeria pull in vastly larger sums.
The figure puts Namibia fifth among the region's most significant renewable energy markets, behind South Africa ($20.4 billion), Nigeria ($5.4 billion), Kenya ($4.3 billion) and Senegal ($1.8 billion), and just ahead of Angola ($993 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo ($874 million) and Tanzania ($776 million).
Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole recorded $13.5 billion in renewable energy investment in 2025, the third consecutive year the region has topped $12 billion, according to BloombergNEF's Sub-Saharan Africa Clean Energy Market Outlook 2026.
The report notes the region posted its biggest-ever year-on-year jump in solar imports between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, with South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya now central to global solar demand.
South Africa's overall investment actually fell sharply in 2025, to $5.1 billion from $8.7 billion the year before, as fewer large solar and wind projects reached financial close. Investment in utility-scale solar and wind alone dropped to $3.6 billion from $7.3 billion.
That slowdown was offset by stronger growth elsewhere, the outlook found. Namibia was named alongside Zambia, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a standout for utility-scale investment growth in 2025, a notably different pattern to Kenya, Tanzania and Cameroon, where gains were driven almost entirely by small-scale solar.
Why it matters for Namibian consumers
The investment surge comes as Namibia's electricity tariffs continue rising toward cost-reflective levels. BloombergNEF's data shows Namibia's residential grid prices have climbed steadily since 2018 and now sit close to South Africa's, as NamPower passes through the cost of imported coal power.
Unlike Zambia, Ethiopia and Angola, where subsidised electricity has been among the cheapest in the world but is now being unwound, Namibia's tariffs were already largely cost-reflective, meaning further increases are driven more by import costs than subsidy removal.
For households and businesses, that trajectory strengthens the economic case for solar. Across the region, BloombergNEF found rising grid prices, not climate policy, are the main driver pushing homes and businesses toward rooftop solar and battery storage as alternatives to expensive grid power or diesel generators.
Namibia's power mix, and a pipeline gap
Namibia's grid runs on 1.1 gigawatts of connected capacity, still dominated by hydropower and fossil fuels. Utility-scale solar and wind reached 215 megawatts (MW) in 2025, about 16% of grid capacity, with a record 55MW of new utility-scale solar added during the year.
To hit its target of 70% renewable electricity generation by 2030, Namibia needs at least 80MW of new utility-scale renewable capacity every year, the outlook estimates. Government has not published clear guidelines on whether that target covers grid-connected capacity only, and BloombergNEF says it has assumed so for its modelling.
On that measure, 2025's 55MW of new utility-scale solar fell short of the annual pace required, a gap the outlook suggests will need to close quickly if the 2030 target is to stay within reach, particularly as no clear pipeline of upcoming NamPower tenders has been published.
Most utility-scale capacity in Namibia is built by NamPower itself, or procured through power purchase agreements the utility signs after issuing tenders. Corporates, mostly mining companies, can also sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) for private power under the country's Modified Single Buyer model.
A milestone came in 2025 when Solarcentury's Gerus solar project became Namibia's first merchant utility-scale renewable plant, selling power directly into the wider Southern African Power Pool rather than to NamPower. The development, BloombergNEF said, opens the door for developers eyeing markets beyond Namibia's relatively small domestic demand.
Financing has followed two tracks: NamPower's self-built projects have largely relied on foreign development bank debt, while PPA-based projects have drawn funding from local lenders such as the Development Bank of Namibia and regional banks including Standard Bank.
This article is adapted from the BloombergNEF Sub-Saharan Africa Clean Energy Market Outlook 2026. Investment figures cover the period 2023–2025 unless otherwise stated.
