NamPower, Diaz Wind Power deal potential game changer in the power sector
NamPower has signed a 25 year power purchase agreement worth N$1.5 billion with Diaz Wind Power, for the off-take of electricity from a 44 MW wind power generation plant.
Diaz Wind Power will set up the wind power generation plant on a site near Luderitz in the Karas Region. The wind plant is expected to deliver an energy output of more than 200 million kilowatt hours per year, which translates to supplying electricity to more than 10,000 households.
The two parties also signed two other agreements on the day, namely the Project Development Connection and Transfer Agreement (PDCTA), which makes provision for the building of the transmission infrastructure that will connect the wind generation plant to the NamPower transmission system, and the Transmission Agreement which makes provision for the use of the transmission system by Diaz.
The project will include all requisite civil, electrical and mechanical installation works at the site, the construction of the Diaz substation and a 27 km transmission line to NamPower’s 132 kV Namib substation, as well as upgrades to NamPower’s Kokerboom and Namib substations.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in the presence Diaz Wind Power Director, Haddis Tilahun., NamPower’s Managing Director Kahenge Haulofu, hailed the agreement as an important milestone in the expansion of the Namibian power generation sector.
Haulofu emphasised NamPower’s commitment to work with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) with viable renewable energy projects to develop new generation power plants, as part of NamPower’s short and medium term initiatives to complement conventional power generation sources and add to the current generation capacity.
Meanwhile, NamPower has also signed a 25 year 4.5 MW power purchase agreement with Innosun (Omburu) and a 20 MW power purchase agreement with Greennam Energy (both solar).
The Innosun Project is already providing energy to the grid and the Greenam Energy Project is expected to feed into the grid by mid-2018. Also soon to come on board is a 37 MW Solar Energy plant by Alten Solar Power (Hardap (PTY) Ltd) which was awarded beginning of 2017. This plant will feed into the grid as from July 2018.
Furthermore, under the REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff) programme, NamPower has concluded power purchase agreements with 14 local renewable energy IPPs under the company’s interim REFIT Programme, initiated by the Electricity Board of Namibia (ECB), NamPower and Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The REFIT programme will inject up to 70 MW of renewable energy into the grid. Of the 14 IPPs, 9 have already started to feed into the system, while the remaining 5 are expected to start operation by mid-2018.
