**3.2 State of electrification in Tsumkwe**

Tsumkwe is located in the northeastern part of the Otjozondjupa Region in Namibia. The settlement is 735 km away from Windhoek and 304 km from Grootfontein, the nearest town where community members have access to basic services (e.g. banks or supermarkets). According to an observation trip conducted in 2005, the closest grid electricity access point from Tsumkwe is either in Maroelaboom, which is about 180 km to the west (33 kV connection) or at the Berg Aukas Distribution Station located about 240 km to the west (66 kV connection) [13]. Based on Namibia's Rural Electricity Distribution Master Plan (REDMP), Tsumkwe is considered an off-grid area and will not be connected to the grid in the near future [14]. This is mainly due to the high cost of N\$150 million associated with the connection [15].

Prior to Namibia's independence, Tsumkwe served as a military base for the South African Army. The power supply was provided by means of two diesel generators connected to a micro-power grid with a small medium voltage of 11 kV [15, 16]. After Namibia's independence in 1990, the government funded the construction of a school, a clinic and a police station for the community, which could be utilized through the infrastructure left by the South African government [17]. However, power supply was unreliable and due to increasing costs of diesel, electricity supply started to be restricted, which inhibited the dissemination of businesses and had an adverse influence on livelihood in general. As the system generally was poorly maintained, diesel occasionally spilled and polluted the environment. The tariff was not affordable for residents until that time, although the government heavily subsidized it, leading to a tariff of 0.14 USD/kWh for private households and 0.27 USD/kWh for institutions and commercial customers (equivalent to 2 and 4 NAD respectively based on the exchange rate of 2014). The subsidies, furthermore, resulted into an annual deficit of NAD 1.2 million for the Otjozondjupa Regional Council (OTRC) [16].

Eventually in 2005, the Councilor of Tsumkwe called for an improvement of the electricity situation. Therefore, a small team of experts was commissioned by the MME through the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN) to evaluate the current energy situation in Tsumkwe. The team was precisely instructed to assess whether a hybrid mini-grid energy supply system using solar energy and diesel would be a feasible long-term electrification approach for Tsumkwe. Based on good experience with a project at the Gobabeb Training and Research Centre, which ensured a reliable electricity supply through a solar PV system backed by a diesel generator, it was decided to use the same hybrid approach for Tsumkwe. The usage of solar power is not at all surprising, as Namibia exhibits the second highest level of solar irradiation in the world [8].

The European Commission, NamPower and the OTRC, funded the resulting project. The Namibian government's share thereby primarily benefited the introduction of energy efficiency appliances. For example, solar water heaters were substituted for electric water heaters, electric stoves were replaced with gas burners, and households were equipped with energy-efficient light bulbs. All this was done on the basis of the recommendations of the experts from the observation tour in 2005. Although the experts' advice was additionally to run the hybrid minigrid system autonomously through an independent operator, who could collect

revenue and take responsibility for maintaining the system and ultimately developing the village, ownership of the system was transferred to the OTRC. Operation and maintenance of the mini-grids was under the responsibility of the Department of Works residing in Tsumkwe [13, 15].
