Orano banks N$10.4m in power savings
The Erongo Desalination Plant in the Erongo Region has saved more than N$10.4 million in electricity costs during its first year of integrating solar power, underscoring the potential for renewable energy to improve the economics of water production.
Solar energy supplied 18.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of the plant’s 65.8 million kWh electricity consumption over the past 12 months, representing 28% of its total energy requirements, according to operator Orano Mining Namibia.
The company said the solar integration contributed to an 8% reduction in costs and helped lower the facility’s carbon footprint.
The project links two of Namibia’s strategic infrastructure priorities; securing reliable water supplies and expanding the use of renewable energy. Desalination provides an alternative source of potable water in a country where water scarcity constrains households, businesses and industrial activity. However converting seawater into drinking water requires significant amounts of electricity, making power consumption an important component of operating costs.
The plant, which uses reverse osmosis to treat seawater, produced nearly 4.7 million cubic metres of potable water over the period, Orano said.
The savings follow a 10-year power purchase agreement between Orano Mining Namibia and Sorexa Sun Energy, a subsidiary of InnoSun Energy Holdings. The agreement enables the desalination facility to source renewable electricity from a solar plant at the Trekkopje site near Arandis.
Construction began in August 2023, and the solar facility was commissioned in August 2025.
The desalination plant is located near Wlotzkasbaken, about 35 kilometres north of Swakopmund. It has operated since 2010, supplying water to communities and mining operations across the Erongo Region.
The first year’s results provide a measure of the savings that renewable electricity can deliver at an energy-intensive industrial facility. Solar supplied more than a quarter of the plant’s electricity, rather than replacing conventional power entirely, leaving the facility dependent on other sources for the balance of its requirements.
The wider economic significance will depend on whether similar arrangements can deliver reliable power and comparable savings across other water infrastructure and industrial operations.
