WITH the Ruacana Hydropower Station generating at full capacity (330 MW), power utility, NamPower has this year exported electricity to Botswana and South Africa.
NamPower has a surplus sales agreement with Eskom and the Botswana Power Corporation.
The company said this week that it was in a ‘fortunate position’ to assist the Botswana and South Africa utilities after they has requested for surplus power.
“The capacity to assist Eskom and BPC was as a direct result of surplus energy being available at the time due to the flagship power generation plant, the Ruacana Hydropower Station, generating at full capacity (330 MW),” NamPower said in a statement.
Ruacana strong inflows -of up to 400 cubic metres/second-due to good rains in the catchment area of the Kunene River Basin made this possible.
This would not have been possible during the dry season between mid-May and November.
Inflows have since decreased, which means that the generation capacity has decreased with the station currently generating from 06h00 to 22h00 for domestic purposes only, NamPower said.
NamPower justified the exports saying it is a part of the Southern African Power Pool and ‘should act in solidarity with its neighbouring utilities in the interests of economic development in the SADC region under the ambit of the SAPP energy trading platform.’
“Namibia is fortunate that NamPower has consistently been able to meet the domestic electricity needs of all sectors of the economy without load shedding, at a cost that has continued to foster overall economic growth.
During the next four to five years, no serious power supply disruptions are envisaged as NamPower has had the foresight to put adequate measures in place,” the company said.
The company has developed short-term critical supply initiatives for the next five years to mitigate potential shortages.
These include the demand side management, the Van Eck refurbishment, replacement of runners at Ruacana, negotiating power purchase agreements with neighbouring countries and the development of a 250 MW power plant.
“The 250MW power plant will be a joint development with the private sector. The plant will fill the supply gap prior to the commissioning of Kudu and thereafter, its operating regime has been designed to complement Kudu.
Planned medium to longer-term projects include the development of the Kudu Gas Power Station and the Baynes HydroPower Plant,” the company said.
