NAMIBIA RECOGNISED FOR ITS PROGRESS IN DISTRIBUTED GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY

Windhoek, July 7 — The Electricity Control Board (ECB), Namibia’s electricity regulator, is proud to announce that
Namibia has received continental recognition for its progress in Distributed Generation (DG), also known as Embedded Generation (EG).
Distributed or Embedded Generation refers to electricity that is produced close to where it is used, for example, solar panels installed on the rooftops of homes, businesses, and farms, rather than at large, centralized power stations.
This recognition was earned in particular through the development, review, and implementation of the country’s Net Metering Rules and Embedded Generation Standards. Net Metering is a billing arrangement that allows customers who generate their own electricity to feed any surplus power they do not use into the national electricity grid and receive credit on their electricity bills in return.
The recognition was awarded during the GET.Transform Distributed Generation Programme currently under way in Cape Town, South Africa. This programme, which commenced in 2024, was established to help African countries expand small-scale, locally produced electricity, with a specific focus on designing and implementing Net Metering frameworks.
Namibia was identified as one of the leading countries within the programme because of its existing regulatory framework, the set of laws, rules, and licensing requirements that govern how electricity may be generated, connected, sold and its successful implementation of Embedded Generation and Net Metering. These achievements have positioned Namibia as a benchmark, or model example, for the other participating African countries that joined the programme during the 2024–2025 cycle.
One of the key outcomes of the programme is the DG Online Platform, which the ECB is scheduled to launch in August 2026. This is a web-based system designed to make it easier to manage, monitor, and promote small-scale electricity generation in Namibia. The platform was developed using the insights and recommendations generated by the programme’s study.
This continental recognition underscores Namibia’s commitment to creating an enabling regulatory environment with rules and processes that encourage, rather than hinder, investment in the electricity sector, for renewable energy integration, which is the process of bringing power from natural sources such as the sun and wind into the national electricity supply.