Otjikoto Biomass Power Station Project

Namibia faces two major challenges: heavy reliance on electricity imports and widespread bush encroachment, where fast-growing shrubs and small trees cover about 30% of the land. This reduces ecosystem services by degrading wildlife habitats, altering landscapes, limiting groundwater recharge (in an already water-stressed country), and shrinking grazing areas which is critical since agriculture is a key employer. 

Namibia plans to restore 15.5 million hectares of savannah by 2030 through bush-harvesting measures, potentially cutting 2.3 MtCO₂e. The country’s strategy depends on sustainably using harvested bush to build a biomass sector. Turning bush into products such as woodchips can provide local, reliable power generation, supporting Namibia’s goals of energy security, reduced imports, and a diversified electricity mix with 70% renewable energy by 2030.

The national electricity company, NamPower, intends to build a 40MW biomass power plant, powered by a FSC certified woodchip supply chain of the harvested bush. This project is a pilot, with potential for replicability in the sub-region. The project's strategy is to develop an economically and ecologically viable model for combating bush encroachment.

The components of the project are:

• The construction and implementation of a 40 MW biomass plant
• The development of an FSC certified sustainable biomass harvesting sector, and rehabilitation of savannah ecosystems and grazing areas
• The maximisation of environmental and social impacts, financed by a grant support from the French Fund for Global Environment (FFEM) and the Mitigation Action Facility (MAF), empowering local marginalized groups through training and professionalization.

• National, dispatchable and baseload energy generation, thus contributing to energy independence from neighboring countries
• Biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of natural resources: Clearing invasive bush will restore grazin areas while retaining ecologically interesting shrub species, forming a «mosaic» system that will encourage the return of openland species and the maintenance of closeland species, as well as reducing the pressure on water resources.
• Climate change adaptation: the control and harvesting of invasive bush on arid savannahs is an adaptation measure that promotes groundwater recharge and improves livestock resilience through increased pasture productivity.
• Gender equality: the gender action plan of the project will help reduce gender inequalities.