French firm to start 300MW wind farm

THE French company InnoVent plans to set up a huge wind power project just south of Walvis Bay that it is to generate 300 megawatt (MW) of electricity according to the licence application submitted to the Electricity Control Board (ECB).

The wind farm will be established in four phases, with each turbine having a capacity of 3 MW, and Phase 1 will see 30 MW capacity installed and operational by 2011.InnoVent already has a subsidiary in South Africa, InnoWind, which is setting up two wind power projects at Saldanha Bay and near Grahamstown. InnoWind Namibia is run by Managing Director Martin Webb, a South African national, and the project leader is Usuta Imbili, a daughter of former president Sam Nujoma. It is not known whether Imbili has any technical or engineering background.According to the application, InnoWind wants to sell the electricity generated to Erongo RED and other independent power purchasers.This will be the second wind power project in Namibia. On April 1 2007, the ECB granted a wind power generation licence to Aeolus Power Generation, a joint venture between United Africa Group and a Dutch company. The company wanted to start a wind park at Lüderitz and later at Walvis Bay. Nothing has come of the plan yet, however.According to NamPower spokesman John Kaimu, the Aeolus plan hinges on the purchase price of the electricity that Aeolus wants to sell to NamPower.’At this moment we are busy with the negotiations of the power purchase agreement (PPA),’ Kaimu responded when approached by The Namibian.’The transmission connection agreement is done. The process of the PPA seems slow because of the absence of national legislation on renewable energies. At NamPower we believe that this process must be done thoroughly to create a framework for similar projects in the future.’