NamPower and Eskom sign MoU

NAMIBIAN electricity utility, NamPower, on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Africa’s Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom).

The MoU was signed by the heads of the two institutions, Dr Leake Hangala of NamPower and Thulani Gcabashe of Eskom, during Gcabashe’s visit to Namibia on Friday. “Joint infrastructure development is specifically mentioned and encouraged.Our resources are complementary,” explained Reiner Jagau, Chief Technical Advisor at NamPower, this week.The two power companies agreed to exchange and share experience and information concerning managerial and financial matters, technical issues especially in the fields of generation, transmission, energy trading, emergencies, economics and development.At the signing Hangala said the companies had also discussed issues related to human capacity building, HIV-AIDS, black economic empowerment and inter-connectivity of electricity in Southern Africa amongst others.Gcabashe said that the two sister institutions not only have a lot in common but also faced similar challenges pertaining to their response to the increasing demand for electricity in both countries.”It’s common knowledge that new power stations will have to be built in the region (even the RSA will run out of capacity, especially peaking capacity soon) which will result in rices increasing to be able to service loans due to additional capital expenditure incurred, ” Jagau elaborated.”Regional co-operation should and most probably will dictate where and when these power stations will be built.The intention is to find the most cost-effective location and transport the electricity from there to all the load centres.The SAPP (Southern African Power Pool) is well interconnected enabling for example cheap hydro power from Mozambique, DRC and Zambia to be wheeled to other countries,” Jagau said.”In the end, it will boil down to an economic decision with FIRR (Financial Internal Rate of Return) and EIRR (Economic Internal Rate of Return) being just one of the determining factors,” said.”Joint infrastructure development is specifically mentioned and encouraged.Our resources are complementary,” explained Reiner Jagau, Chief Technical Advisor at NamPower, this week.The two power companies agreed to exchange and share experience and information concerning managerial and financial matters, technical issues especially in the fields of generation, transmission, energy trading, emergencies, economics and development.At the signing Hangala said the companies had also discussed issues related to human capacity building, HIV-AIDS, black economic empowerment and inter-connectivity of electricity in Southern Africa amongst others.Gcabashe said that the two sister institutions not only have a lot in common but also faced similar challenges pertaining to their response to the increasing demand for electricity in both countries.”It’s common knowledge that new power stations will have to be built in the region (even the RSA will run out of capacity, especially peaking capacity soon) which will result in rices increasing to be able to service loans due to additional capital expenditure incurred, ” Jagau elaborated.”Regional co-operation should and most probably will dictate where and when these power stations will be built.The intention is to find the most cost-effective location and transport the electricity from there to all the load centres.The SAPP (Southern African Power Pool) is well interconnected enabling for example cheap hydro power from Mozambique, DRC and Zambia to be wheeled to other countries,” Jagau said.”In the end, it will boil down to an economic decision with FIRR (Financial Internal Rate of Return) and EIRR (Economic Internal Rate of Return) being just one of the determining factors,” said.