Hydropower meeting behind closed doors

ABOUT 40 experts on hydroelectricity started a three-day meeting behind closed doors in Windhoek yesterday.

The delegates at the 21st African Hydro Symposium will discuss the potential of hydropower on the continent in coming years, maintenance practices of sustainable hydro power plants and financing of hydropower projects.NamPower will give a presentation on the proposed hydropower project between Namibia and Angola in the Baynes Mountains on the Kunene River. Most delegates will then fly to the Ruacana power station on Thursday for a site visit. NamPower will install a fourth turbine at Ruacana this year to increase its electricity generation from 240 to 320 megawatt (MW).In his opening speech, Mines and Energy Minster Erkki Nghimtina said southern Africa was facing a critical shortage of electricity due to inadequate investment in power generation projects. ‘In Namibia, NamPower will in co-operation with a private developer investigate the feasibility of developing 12 mini hydro sites on the Orange River with a total capacity of 105 MW,’ Nghimtina said. According to a new study published last week by the Energy, Environment and Development Network for Africa (EEDNA), recurrent droughts – thought to be linked to climate change – have serious negative impacts on Africa’s power sector. Drought-induced reduction in electricity generation from hydropower has become persistent in East Africa, with far-reaching and devastating impacts on both its power sectors and its economies. In Uganda, the reduction of water levels in Lake Victoria between 2004 and 2006 reduced hydropower generation by 50 MW. The country had to turn to costly thermal generators to ease the supply deficit. ‘During this period, electricity supply was more intermittent than usual, and the price of electricity increased,’ according to the study.In Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia, drought-related power shortages and their impacts were similar to Uganda.Kenya appears to be more resilient to drought-induced power generation shortfalls because it does not rely solely on hydropower.Mauritius successfully meets over 20 per cent of its electricity demand using leftovers of sugar cane. Over a ten-year period up to 2002 the installed capacity of power plants set up by the sugar industry increased from 43 MW to 242 MW and the excess electricity is sold to the national grid. Revenue from those sales is shared equitably among the key stakeholders, including the small-scale farmers who provide sugar cane to the factories.