NamPower has put out a tender for a contractor for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the 40 MW Rosh Pinah Wind Project.
The wind project is set to be the first large-scale wind energy facility in Namibia after construction.
The 40MW Rosh Pinah wind project will be located at the Sperrgebiet National Park.
The renewable energy facility will consist of 16, 2.5MW wind energy turbines.
Environmental consulting company, Enviro Dynamics, started conducting environmental impact assessment on the site since February last year.
The development of the wind energy project is part of the Namibian government’s renewable energy feed-in tariff programme (Refit) launched in 2015 in an effort to increase renewables share in the country’s energy mix and increase its energy self-sufficiency.
The Southern African country only has an electricity generation capacity of around 393MW which meets about 40% of the country’s power demand. The remaining power deficit is closed through imports by NamPower from South Africa’s ESKOM and Zimbabwe’s ZESA.
Namibia is targeting 70% of its installed electricity capacity to come from renewable sources by 2030. The country also announced plans to avail 5 700 square kilometres in the //Kharas region of the country for the development of green hydro and ammonia asset projects.
The issuing of the tender by NamPower comes as the Namibian government has bet on green hydrogen to address the country’s current power deficit, having awarded Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, two bids to construct Namibia’s inaugural green hydrogen projects expected to come online in 2025.
The government is also banking on green hydrogen to attract more than US$6 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) which is anticipated to generate annual revenues in excess of US$800 million.
Namibia’s Independent Power Producers (IPPs) currently have an installed capacity of 130MW and contributed only 9% of the total electricity during the financial year 2020/2021.The Brief/renewafrica
