Power imports cost N$9b

NamPower has paid over N$9 billion for electricity imported from elsewhere over the last five years.The country will remain a net importer until a base-load or mid-merit power plant is built, according to the power utility.A base-load station is one capable of operating 24 hours a day. It is shut down only for routine maintenance and in unforeseen situations. A mid-merit station is considered a reliable, affordable plant with adequate capacity. NamPower says it plans to invest about N$14 billion in its generation and transmission assets over the next five years to reduce reliance on outside sources. This amount does not include the Kudu and Baynes mega-projects in which shareholding is still open, the power utility stated. The exclusion of the Kudu and Baynes projects is presumably because of their “complex” nature, requiring government guarantees. NamPower says it is working on a number of small generation projects, which include independent power producers (IPPs) to further reduce reliance. Some renewable energy plants are already in operation.At the moment, 40 MW of power is supplied by IPPs and 92 MW is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2018. Potential foreign investors say Namibia's over-reliance on energy imports makes it less attractive for major investments.One such player estimates that imported electricity accounted for 97% of its average hourly power load from June to September. NamPower, on the other hand, says electricity importation during that period was not more than 65%. Namibia imports electricity from South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In its 2016 annual report NamPower acknowledged that securing supply came at a very high cost and was unsustainable in the long run. NamPower ascribes the fact that it had to import 65% of the country's electricity to reduced output by the Ruacana hydropower scheme because of drought.Smaller power stations have either been running at very low capacity or not at all. The Van Eck plant in Windhoek is said to be producing an average of 4MW per year because it is being refurbished. Paratus and Anixas at Walvis Bay have not been producing any power. Paratus was commissioned in the 1970s with an installed capacity of 24MW and was down-rated to 12MW before it was declared non-operational on 22 June 2016. It has since been decommissioned because it had reached its lifespan.Anixas is a standby power plant, which means it is only fired up in emergencies when the primary power supply is not available. NamPower says it is standard practice for a utility to have an emergency or standby generator plant. Current scenarioNamibia is connected to two regional power utilities – Zesco in Zambia and Eskom in South Africa – that provide the country with additional supply in case one of these two interconnections goes down. “The situation is improving as more IPPs are busy commissioning their generation plants and this will alleviate the burden on the interconnections,” NamPower says.It acknowledges that the surplus energy in the South African Power Pool (SAPP) market might not be sustainable in the long term, but says it is working hard to ensure that planned short- to medium-term projects are executed before the end of the current import agreements.The power utility says it is continuously investigating new options to develop new power plants as part of its short- and medium-term initiatives to add to the current generation capacity. These include concentrated solar power (CSP) and biomass projects in addition to the IPPs.NamPower has concluded power purchase arrangements (PPAs) with 14 local renewable energy IPPs under its interim Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT) programme, each generating 5 MW. Seven of these are already operational and the remaining IPPs are expected to come online by the end of this year.NamPower says the REFIT programme will inject up to 70MW of renewable energy into the grid.It has concluded a PPA with Greenam Energy to generate 20MW of solar energy, which is expected to be online by the middle of next year.Another PPA is with Diaz Wind for the generation of 44 MW of wind energy that was concluded in 2016.Additionally, a 37MW solar energy tender was awarded at the beginning of this year.NamPower says it will ensure that Namibia has adequate power supply by supplementing its energy needs with power from the southern African region.

Power imports cost N$9b

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-09

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Power imports cost N$9b

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-09

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