Photo by: Mariaan Webb
Namibian power utility NamPower and Zambian private power utility Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), last week signed a joint development agreement and a power export agreement for the Kudu power project, in Namibia.
Kudu would be the first large power station to have been developed in Namibia by the country’s government. It would also be the first combined cycle gas turbine power station of this size in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
The development of the Kudu project was also of strategic interest to Namibia, as it would monetise the country’s gas resource and further stimulate oil and gas exploration in Namibia.
NamPower chairperson Maria Nakale said CEC’s expression of interest to offtake about 200 MW to 300 MW from the Kudu power project and the subsequent discussions and negotiations had been ongoing since 2011, with the term sheet negotiations having been concluded in October last year.
“CEC added considerable value to the Kudu project, as the off-take denominated in US dollars has lessened the burden on NamPower to manage the foreign currency exchange risk exposure. Their further interest to participate in the Kudu project as investors/shareholders definitely demonstrates, without a doubt, their full commitment in ensuring that this project is successfully implemented and commissioned by end 2017, latest first quarter of 2018,” she said.
Nakale said energy security in the region had been one of the preoccupations of political leadership at a SADC level, as the inadequate generation capacity was hampering socioeconomic development.
“Foreign direct investment can not be stimulated in the absence of secure and affordable electricity. Namibia has been a net importer of electricity for much too long. It is, therefore, of national strategic and security interest to ensure that we guarantee reliable supply of electricity,” she noted.