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Namibia and Angola to revisit the Baynes Power Project
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Namibia and Angola plan to revisit a belated project to build a hydro electric power station on the Kunene River, which is shared by the two countries. The project was first discussed in the 1990s, but had not taken off despite the many years of discussions.
The project, to be known as the Baynes Hydro Electricity Power Station, will be co-funded by state power utility NamPower and its Angolan counterpart, the National Electricity Company. NamPower's chief technical adviser, Reiner Jagau has confirmed that the two countries have decided to revisit plans to build the station jointly.
The countries also plan to use new and old data from feasibility studies that will be carried out to determine the project's viability. Jagau said the capacity of the power station may change compared to what was originally planned in the 1990s.
"The demand for electricity has increased in the last 10 years," said Jagau. “A feasibility study will take one to two years to complete.
And after that, should the project be bankable and with money available, it will take six to ten years to complete”.
He said that should construction go ahead, the capacity of the dam may increase from the 360 MW planned in the previous feasibility study. The cost of the project, based on the feasibility study done in 1998, was US$266 million although this figure is expected to increase. The Namibian government recently supported the plans to revisit the project and appointed a technical team led by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Joseph Iita.
The team is expected to offer policy guidance on the implementation of the power project. Officials from the two countries are expected to meet to discuss the construction of the project.
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