By Dhiladhila Magazine · Issue 17

A power plant rarely changes a town's character. Beside Omaruru's galleries and vineyards, Omburu is a quieter kind of landmark.

Omaruru is known to travellers for softer things than infrastructure: an artists’ colony at the foot of the Erongo Mountains, the historic Franke Tower, and a small winery on its edge. About 15 kilometres away, NamPower’s new Omburu solar plant is an unlikely neighbour, and the town’s visitor appeal is unlikely to change much because of it.

A destination defined by other things

Omaruru’s draw is cultural and scenic. It sits about 270 kilometres from Windhoek in the Erongo region, an easy inland stop known for its galleries, its annual artists’ walk, wine and brandy tasting at Kristall Kellerei, and rock art in the hills nearby. A 20 megawatt solar plant does not compete with any of that; it simply sits alongside it.

What the plant may offer tourism is indirect. Reliable, cleaner local power supports the lodges, restaurants and small enterprises a visitor economy runs on, and a region that generates its own daytime electricity is a little less exposed to the outages that inconvenience travellers and operators alike.

The plant will not draw tourists, but the steadier power behind the town may quietly keep them comfortable.

For a lodge owner or a tourism operator around Omaruru, Omburu is not an attraction to market but a piece of quiet reliability to welcome. The decision it invites is a modest one: whether a region that increasingly makes its own clean power can fold that into its appeal to the growing share of travellers who care how the places they visit are run, without ever turning a solar field into a sight to see.

Sources: NamPower 2022 Annual Report; Erongo region – accommodation, activities and places of interest (Info Namibia); Omaruru travel article (My Guide Namibia)