2022 Winner - ORVI Social Housing project in Aussenkehr, Namibia
Photo 1: SHC Solar Award recipients - Helvi Ileka, Namibia Energy Institute, Namibia University of Science and Technology and Leonhard Eins, Solsquare, Namibia. Photo 2 from left to right: Ken Guthrie, Solar Award Committee Chair & Australian SHC member; Tomas Olejniczak, SHC Chair and Dutch SHC member; Bulent Yesilata, Turkish SHC member; Leonhard Eins, Solsquare, Namibia; Werner Weiss, Austrian SHC member. Onscreen: Helvi Ileka, Namibia Energy Institute, Namibia University of Science and Technology.
ORVI Social Housing project wins for its success in reducing the energy consumption and costs in 58 homes for workers in the Aussenkehr settlement in southern Namibia on the north bank of the Orange River and one of the hottest and driest places in the country. Up to 15,000 permanent and seasonal workers live near the settlement. And most work at the grape farms and live in traditional reed huts with no water, sanitary facilities, or electricity. Understanding the need for affordable, energy-efficient homes, ORVI developed a housing project to accommodate its employees. The project houses are made of precast concrete bricks and have potable water and electricity. With 40-50% of electricity consumption in low-cost housing projects used for water heating, solar thermosyphon systems for hot water preparation (2.1 m2 flat plate collector and 160-liter hot water tank) were supplied and installed on every home by Solsquare Energy (Pty) Ltd., a Namibian solar company with support from the Austrian Development Agency-funded SOLTRAIN project. The hot water is used for showers, washing clothes, and cooking. The financial impact of these solar thermosyphon systems is huge - without solar, they would pay 50-80 euros per month for electricity, BUT with these solar systems they pay 5-10 euros per month for all their electric needs.
Project video
The Four Shortlisted Projects