Namdeb is planning to construct a 34-megawatts (MW) wind farm at an estimated investment cost of N$922 million (US$51 million), The Brief can exclusively reveal.
The farm will be constructed at Kerbehuk, located 45km north of Oranjemund by Envusa Energy, a special-purpose vehicle owned by Anglo-America and EDF-Renewables, with Namdeb as the off taker.
The wind farm plans, which will reduce the miner’s carbon emission by 79,000 tonnes annually, are part of the diamond miner’s first phase of its carbon-neutral projects, which will also see the development of a larger solar facility solution to supplement the wind farm, with studies ongoing to evaluate options to electrify its current diesel consuming operations.
“At Namdeb, we are aware of the effects of climate change and remain committed to supporting our government in the national decarbonisation efforts maintaining global temperature rise to below 2°C as called for by the Paris Agreement. At the same time, our commitment is aligned towards achieving the climate change goal to become carbon neutral by 2030 with scope 1 (fossil fuels) and scope 2 (fossil electricity) emissions,” Namdeb’s Portfolio Manager-Strategic Projects, Lionel Coetzee told The Brief.
“The plan is for the wind energy facility to be constructed, operated and maintained by a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The shareholders of the SPV are intended to be Envusa Energy and a Namibian partner that is still to be identified. Namdeb would be the sole off-taker of the wind energy produced. As indicated, wind energy would make a large contribution to our aim of carbon neutrality by 2030, and also provide electricity at a lower cost. Most of the carbon emission reduction will be through the replacement of fossil electricity and fossil fuels, and the wind energy facility is the first large-scale implementation project to propel us towards that goal.”
Coetzee said the diamond company plans to submit its Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) application to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism next month, with construction targeted to commence in the second quarter of 2024.
“The current plan is that the development phase will be completed in April 2024 when financial close will be reached. Construction would then commence in Quarter 2 of 2024. It is expected that construction and commissioning would take around 18 months and therefore the plan is that the wind energy facility will commence commercial operations in late 2025,” he said.
Coetzee said a detailed engineering design phase is still in progress and no definitive decision regarding the exact type of wind energy technology supplier has been made.
“The prospective wind turbines that will be selected can range from around 3MW to 6MW units and each of them 100m to 125m high. Normally wind turbines have a lifespan of 25- 30 years depending on environmental conditions. The exact operating and maintenance costs still need to be finalised,” he said.
Coetzee said more than 200 jobs will be created during the construction phase of the project.
“Apart from the immediate benefits that a large construction project like this would bring to local service providers and contractors, it would also create employment during construction to more than 200 people at peak and then operational and maintenance work opportunities during the 20 years of operation of the facility. Some of the current SED planning is looking at renewable energy skills development in the region especially since there are several other renewable energy projects planned for the //Kharas Region by other developers,” the Namdeb official said.
Namdeb is owned in equal parts by the Namibian Government and De Beers, of which Anglo-American is the majority shareholder.
