By: Nghiinomenwa Erastus

The country’s small generating capacity and slowness in taking advantage of the abundant renewable energy cost is around N$3,4 billion on electricity import in 2021. 

In other words, for those who want to invest in reliable and competitive electricity generation, Nampower had more than N$3,4 billion for you last year- however, a big chunk, 40 per cent was taken by Eskom.

The company has even some external power supply agreements quoted at US$.

According to the information solicited from Nampower early this week, this revealed that on average, the power utility spent around N$280 million a month importing electricity last year.

“In the 2021 Financial Year, the average monthly import expenditure was about N$ 280 million,” utility told The Villager Business Desk. 

The monthly expenditure on imports differs every month depending on the performance of local generation and the exchange rate because some of the exiting supply agreements are in US Dollars.

Last year, more than 60 per cent of the energy purchased by Nampower was imported.

This was due to the decline in the electricity generated at Ruacana Power Station, down to 968,8 GWh generated in the 2021 financial year compared to 1 504 GWh during the 2020 financial year.

Eskom was the biggest contributor and beneficiary of the total energy in 2021 with 35 per cent supply, translating to about 40 per cent of the total energy cost.

The Southern Africa Power Pool shorts market also provided three per cent of the total demand.

The other four per cent was supplied by local sources, Nampower projects, and the private sector, the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

WHERE ARE THE IPPs?

According to Nampower, renewable sources supplied nine per cent of the country’s total demand for 2021. 

As a result, N$449 million of the total energy cost (of around N$3,4 billion) was spent on energy produced by IPPs- managing only to stop 13 per cent of the capital outflow.

Last year’s below 40 per cent of local generation was mainly from the river-flow-dependent Ruacana Hydropower- generating 69,55 per cent. 

Solar projects came second, contributing 25,87 per cent to local generation last financial year, followed by the coal-power station, which added 2,87 per cent.

Notable from IPP is that last year, Alten Solar Power Hardap Pty (Ltd) provided 115 GWh units into the system, and Greenam added 60GWh units.

As for wind, despite the southern coastal area tipped to be a conducive place for wind energy- capital is yet to flow in the sector.

For last year, Namibia’s electricity monthly generation was below 100 000MWh. It just reached 90 000 MWh three times.

As a result, more than 250 000 MWh of electricity has consistently been important a month, mainly sourced from South Africa.

All NamPower renewables’ planned projects are at different stages of development and attributed to delays due to Covid-19, among others. 

 The first 20 MW solar PV plant will be commercial by April 2022.

NamPower’s primary source of installed generation capacity is Ruacana Power Station run-off-the-river Hydro with 347 MW installed capacity, which varies according to the river flow.

In its 2021 annual report, the power utility indicated that the Ruacana Power Station continues to be the least cost electricity generation plant.

The second station is the Van Eck Power Station, which runs on coal and has 120 MW installed capacity, and is mainly used for emergency/standby supply.

However, the available capacity is limited to 96 MW (24 MW per unit) due to the ageing infrastructure. 

Thirdly, the country also has the Anixas Power Station, which runs on diesel/heavy fuel Oil, has 22,5 MW installed capacity, and is also used for emergency/standby supply.

The three power stations have a total installed capacity of 489,5 MW, which is variable and for emergency standby.

In addition to its locally generated electricity, NamPower imports electricity through its Energy Trading System through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) to complement supply and meet demand.

The availability of local generation dictates electricity imports.

On average, NamPower imports between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of its energy requirement, depending on the river flow at Ruacana, which can make the country import like the case of the last year.

In 2021, the energy demand was 3 925 GWh, a 0,5 per cent reduction from 3 945 GWh of the previous year (2019/20). 

Nampower had 2 924 electricity customers in 2021, and its System Maximum (Hourly demand) was 617MW, including Skorpion. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na