The Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) met 95% of the country’s power demand, spurred by Ruacana Hydro Power Station, which covered 60% of the requirement.
This provided relief for electricity imports for April.
The Brief can exclusively reveal that the Ruacana has been generating 347 megawatts (MW) of electricity 24 hours a day at full load boosting NamPower’s supply of the country’s electricity demand for the past two weeks.
“Ninety-five percent (95%) of the country’s demand was not supplied by Ruacana alone, but Ruacana running at full load made it possible for NamPower to supply 95%.
Due to good rain in the catchment area of the Kunene River, the Ruacana Hydro Power Station is running at full capacity for the past two weeks generating 347MW (24/7) which amounts to an average supply of about 60% of overall supply,” Tangeni Kambangula, NamPower’s Manager of Corporate Community and Marketing told The Brief.
She said this occurs after considerable rainfall was recorded in the Kunene River watershed in Angola from the beginning of March 2023 to the beginning of April 2023.
“Since, the power station has been generating electricity at full load with NamPower supplying more than 95% of the country’s electricity demand for the past week. The status is expected to continue for the remainder of April 2023,” she said.
Kambangula stated that while Ruacana alone could not provide 95% of the country’s demand, Ruacana running at full capacity enabled NamPower to meet 95%.
“The current 60% contribution factor from Ruacana is only temporary,” Kambangula said adding that “the final yearly contribution will be less than 60%.”
As a result, she stated that Ruacana’s contribution can only be sustained as long as there is enough inflow from Angola.
Meanwhile, the sluice gates were opened on April 11, 2023, as a result of the water from Angola’s heavy rains having arrived at the Ruacana Hydro Power Station by the first week of April.
The Kunene River flow exceeded the 290 m3/s necessary for full load operation, reaching a peak of 928 m3/s on April 16, 2023, before dropping to 305 m3/s on April 17, 2023, according to Nampower. The Ruacana waterfalls haven’t been this active since April 2022.
Namibia imports a total of 460MW from regional power utilities in its quest to meet the country’s daily energy demands averaging 500MW, with 200MW previously coming from Eskom, in a deal that was recently renegotiated and extended for another three years, with 80MW coming in from the Zimbabwe Power Company.
According to Fitch, NamPower’s capital expenditure is set to increase to about N$1.5 billion in FY22 and N$3 billion in FY23 and FY24, from less than N$500 million averaged over the last four years.
Namibia’s fifth National Development Plan targets to increase the country’s overall power generation capacity to 750MW.
