Namibia’s Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) has forged an EPC agreement with Shandong Electrical, Engineering & Equipment Group Co., Ltd and Zhejiang Narada Power Source Co., Ltd JV for the inaugural utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) in Namibia.
A construction timeline of 18 months is slated, projecting plant operation by mid-2025.
The Omburu Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in Namibia stands as a pioneering venture, marking a momentous stride in bolstering renewable energy generation facilities.
As the premier utility-scale BESS in Namibia and the broader Southern African region, it is poised to establish a 58MW / 72MWh battery energy storage system at the Omburu substation in the Erongo Region.
This BESS initiative is underwritten through a bilateral cooperation pact between the German federal government and the Namibian Government, securing a substantial grant of N$400 million (US$26.86m) from Germany’s KfW development bank.
NamPower’s contribution, about 20 percent of the overall expenses, covers transmission interconnection and local duties and taxes beyond the grant’s scope.
The Omburu BESS is engineered to undertake critical functions for NamPower, encompassing peak load shifting, energy arbitrage, emergency backup power provision, power plant ramp-rate management, and reactive power control.
Moreover, it will facilitate the region’s renewable energy expansion by storing locally generated renewable power and imported electricity from the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
This process involves charging the battery during off-peak periods with lower costs and discharging stored energy during peak demand.
The project’s essence lies in augmenting Namibia’s energy storage capabilities, aligning cohesively with the country’s overarching alternative energy objectives.
Namibia aspires to procure 80 percent of its energy from local sources, setting a Renewable Energy Policy target of 70 percent by 2030.
NamPower foresees the Omburu BESS project as instrumental in hitting these benchmarks, stabilizing the grid amid variable outputs from solar or wind plants and bolstering Namibia’s role in energy trading within the SAPP.
Positioned as one of the first utility-scale storage endeavors in Southern Africa, the Omburu BESS is envisioned as a flagship initiative, anticipated to yield invaluable insights and set a precedent for future analogous projects.
Last month, NamPower and Actom Energy Namibia signed a contract agreement for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the MTS, MES, PAC System, and Integration for NamPower’s Sekelduin Substation.
Sekelduin Substation is a new 132/66/33kV indoor substation outside Swakopmund. This substation will become the main transmission supply to the existing NamPower Swakopmund and Tamarisk substations, the NamWater South bulk water supply scheme feeding, the new Husab Uranium Mine and the Erongo RED 33kV medium voltage reticulation.
This substation project forms part of ongoing upgrades of the NamPower bulk electricity supply to ErongoRed, to enable the utility to meet current and future electricity demand due to socio-economic growth in the Erongo region.
The contract is valued at over N$100 million (US$6.72m) and the project is expected to be completed by February 2025.
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