Potential Alternative Energy Sources for Swakopmund

This is a three-year project resulting from the cooperation between Malmö municipality and Swakompund in Namibia. The cooperation is in the field of environmental management and this is aimed at improving on the usage of different sources of energy other than coal.

The objectives of the project are to provide hot water for the townships in a cheap and environmentally friendly way and to support community members to start small businesses that build and sell solar collectors. This will be done by creating simple and cheap solar collectors that can be used in the townships and to train community members on how to build them. There will also be a parallel process with information and education towards the more wealthy parts of the city to make them act as role models and start using solar collectors; although maybe a more advanced model.

The long-term expected results is that there will be decreased usage of coal as energy source and thus less degradation of the environment with regards to immediate results, it is expected that there will be increased knowledge among community members about solar energy and how it can be used, increased use of solar power in the city and more small businesses started by former unemployed community members which in turn is hoped to address the issue of poverty. Both Malmö and Swakompund are deemed to benefit from the project in terms of knowledge and skills that will result from the technical part of implementation.