While more than seventy percent of Namibia’s urban population has access to the electric grid, only fifteen percent of rural households are connected. Despite this enormous gap between urban and rural energy access, the target presented in Namibia’s third National Development Plan was only for twenty percent rural electrification by 2012. Namibia lacks the resources to construct a transmission system to meet the needs of its rural population. Rural Namibians must either find alternatives to grid-based power or continue to live without electricity for the foreseeable future. In addition, the solution to Namibia’s rural energy crisis must take into account climate change, as models predict that temperature increases will lead to increased climate variability in Namibia, stressing delicate ecosystems and rural economies. Host Nikki Kayser chats with founder Doug Vilsack about Elephant Energy’s goal this year to light 18,000 Navajo homes.
