Energy from the Namibian bush

One of a series of short articles about the Rural Poverty Reduction Programme (RPRP), which was funded by the European Union’s ninth Development Fund and coordinated by the National Planning Commission.

WILLEM Groenewald is passionate about bush encroachment. Farm Pierre, 80 kilometres from Otjiwarongo, is thick with mopane and deurmekaar bush; so thick that parts of it are useless for anything. Like other farmers in the area, Willem turned to charcoal production to get rid of the bush.Robert Schultz of the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia, DRFN, is equally passionate about burning the bush – or gasifying, to use the technical term – and providing electricity. The result is Cbend: Combating Bush Encroachment for Namibia’s Development. It’s a mini-power station set on Willem’s farm, capable of feeding 0,25 megawatts of electricity into NamPower’s grid.Mathew Mulele swings his power saw into action, swiftly cutting down a mopane bush, while a team moves in behind him, chopping the branches into sticks with machetes. That’s the third element in the equation: combining bush clearance and power production with employment creation.When the RPRP called for funding proposals that would reduce rural poverty, the DRFN, responded with a proposal for the Cbend power plant. Similar units are gasifying wood in Europe, the USA; and in India – where the power station was designed and built by Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies.Cbend was designed as a pilot project. If it is economical, others can be built and will also provide work to people cutting bush. And there’s another poverty reduction aspect: 70 per cent of Namibians are far from the NamPower’s grid and without electricity. Small power stations producing around one MW could provide off-grid electricity to settlements, providing power for lighting, cooking and small industry. Invader bush covers an area around 26 million hectares in Namibia, robbing the economy of a potential N$700 million, due to the reduction of grazing land. Willem’s first strategy was to cut the bush for charcoal, and then to clear the ground in a de-bushed area by controlled veld fires. It paid off. When the land is cleared and burnt, the grass grows back after the rains, giving a three-fold increase in carrying capacity. One cow can graze on eight hectares, instead of the previous requirement of 24.For Mathew and his mates, clearing bush is hard work, but conditions on the farm are good, including accommodation and food. Everybody wears safety clothes and has regular breaks. Previously, Willem paid his contract charcoal cutters N$350 a ton. But charcoal is produced from thicker branches; cutting up the smaller bush for Cbend is more work and takes longer, so the rate has been increased to N$500 a ton. The gasifier will eventually need a regular team of 20 workers on a monthly salary.N$13,3 million from the EU, through the RPRP, is a large investment to employ just 20 workers, but the other benefits are perhaps more important. Bush can be cleared, making land productive again which also means more employment, and there is an input into the electricity grid, albeit small.If the investment was worth it, only the future will tell, says Robert Schultz at the DRFN. ‘The idea was to be ahead of our time. In two years the price of oil may shoot up. Then this will be viable and Namibia will be ready. Private producers could get into the market because we have the template: technical, operational and financial.’ That’s fine by Willem, but his main interest is clearing the bush to free up land for grazing. The electricity is a bonus.