ENERGY
Kudu power project sees light
T
he national power utility, NamPower, in line with the National Integrated Resource Plan (NIRP) has embarked on implementing short-term, medium-term and long-term power supply strategies of mixed options to ensure power supply security for the country. Amid these options is construction of a Kudu Power station in Oranjemund by 2020, a first Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) station in the SADC region and first CCGT of this size in the continent. According to a report from NamPower, to obtain this offshore gas, a floating production system will be constructed 170km offshore and from it, a two phased submarine pipeline will transfer the gas to an onshore gas receiving terminal where 800MW of power will then be generated and distributed. NamPower will be the main power off-taker while secondary ones will be South Africa’s Eskom and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC PLC) from Zambia.
Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) respectively. Standard Bank emerged as the successful Mandated Lead Arranger (MLA). Namibia currently imports more than 70% of its power from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia, and this development will significantly decrease the power imports and will see Namibia growing to be a power exporter. “Aggressive timelines have been set for the project, but slippages of up to 3 months will not threaten project completion,” the report reveals.
In a regional project comparison that was carried out, it emerged that Kudu Power is forecast to cost approximately US$0, 10 - 0, 11 /kWh which is competitive with any regional new build coming on stream by 2017-2019. Compared to several regional coal projects planned, Kudu’s technology is environmentally clean. With the generation license for this US$300 million already issued, the power station will be owned by NamPower, Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) Africa and Marubeni (Japan) which was successfully selected as a 3rd equity partner. Shanghai Electric Corporation (SEC) in partnership with Siemens AG has been selected as the preferred
Construction Namibia December - January 2017
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