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Various small off-grid PV systems, also referred to SHS (Solar Home Systems) have been supplied country wide. These systems are typically based on small high efficiency lithium ion batteries as storage solution and Victron components such as solar charge regulator, inverter and monitoring devices.

DeBeers Namibia published a tender for the supply and installation of a weather monitoring system at the Oranjemund Airport. CTS was awarded the tender based on price, knowledge of the meteorological measuring equipment as well as quality of products. At time of installation the station was the most advanced aviation weather station in Namibia.

Technical Details of the system installed:

• Ceilometer at end of runway 20 to measure cloud height at three levels up to 7,500m
• Runway Visibility and Present Weather sensor at stop end of runway 20.
• Present weather sensor monitors 7 different types of precipitation
• visibility sensor takes background luminescence into account
• Wind speed and direction a touchdown runway 20.
• Wind speed and direction, rain as well as barometric pressure at stop end runway 20
• AviMet server for processing of all data
• 3 workstations spread along the buildings for weather monitoring and supervision purposes
• ATIS voice system transmitting on aviation frequency as well as telephone dial in the current weather conditions

All communication between the equipment and the AviMet server is based on wireless transmission to reduce cabling costs.

The weather information can be picked up rough 100 NM away from the airport by all approaching aircraft.

CTS was approached by a senior resident of Klein Windhoek to install a grid-tied photovoltaic system with the aim to cut back on the monthly electricity bill. The system included:

• 42x 130W photovoltaic modules and mounting structure
• 1x 6kW grid tied inverter

The system is designed such as to generate an estimated 900kWh per month.

An existing off-grid solar PV system was expanded to a total of 4,44kW on the farm Ombirisu north of Okahandja and the battery was upgraded to a Lithium-ion technology.

Final System Specifications:

• 6 x 295W Canadian Solar have been added to an existing PV array to deliver a final capacity of 4,44kW
• Replacing old charge regulators with 3 x Victron MPPT 150/70
• Replace old battery with 1 x BlueNova Lithium-ion battery 24V-24kWh
• Pole mounted solar array
• Online connection with remote access

Ministry of Agriculture through, through SASSCAL funding, did acquire 3 automatic weather stations in 2018 which where finally installed in 2019 after sites have been determined. These stations from part of the existing SASSCAL weather station network that has been established over the past years. All stations conform to SASSCAL requirements and are inline with WMO standards.

The stations are installed at :

• Dudukabe (Zambezi)
• Okalongo (Ohangwena)
• Omafo (Ohangwena)

Station info can be obtained from www.sasscalweathernet.org

CTS was awarded four tenders in 2015, to supply, deliver to site, install, test and commission of autoclaves throughout Namibia.

In addition to the 160L Steri Tech autoclaves, water softeners were installed to increase the life span of each unit and reduce overall maintenance cost.

A number of installation teams worked hard to complete the project within the stringent timeframe set by the client. Each site came with its own challenges such as:

1. Removing of existing units that were beyond repair
2. Low supply water pressure
3. Space limitations where the new units were to be installed
4. Breaking out of walls to fit new autoclave