Windhoek - Namibia Power Corporation, the state-owned utility planning a $300 million gas-fired electricity plant venture, says construction will start before mid year.
The 250-megawatt project will be commissioned in the following 18 months, Managing Director Paulinus Shilamba said Friday in a telephone interview. The plant, to be located in Namibia’s coastal Erongo region, will use fuel sourced from a U.S.-based gas trader, he said.
“Various fuel options were investigated prior to initiation of the procurement process,” Shilamba said. “Gas and heavy-fuel oils were found to be the viable options for bridging the anticipated power supply gap in the short to medium term, taking into account the required operating regime of the plant post the commissioning of the Kudu project.”
Nampower, as the company is called, plans to have the plant operational toward the end of 2016 or early 2017 to bridge supply imbalances ahead of its planned 1,050 Kudu gas-to-power plant. Nampower owns 30 percent of the facility, while Xaris Energy holds a 70 percent stake, Shilamba said.
The project has secured “political guarantees” from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, a unit of The World Bank, Shilamba said.
“We decided to go the MIGA route because government guarantees take a long process before they are secured,” he said.
Bloomberg