Title of paper

4. Renewables vs. non-renewables

In order to implement governmental decisions in favour of any technology, the benefits and obstacles plus all alternatives have to be carefully balanced against each other.

Renewables offer numerous benefits in the short-, medium- and long-term, whereof, the long-term benefits are probably the most obvious.

The use of RE will contribute to not only making Namibia less dependent on imported electricity but above all, independent from imported fossil fuels as the price of oil, natural gas and other materials can be extremely volatile, where as the price of RE is predictable and stable. This creates a strong incentive for companies interested in energy security (Renkhoff, 2013: 221). In terms of environmental sustainability, it has to be taken into account that RE neither produces CO₂ nor other greenhouse gases. Looking at the amount of released greenhouse gases, nuclear power, too, produces less carbon emissions than the use of fossil fuels. However, nuclear power poses at the same time many threats to people and the environment. The environment is especially affected where the uranium to fuel the nuclear power stations is mined which is the case in Namibia. And, unlike coal and nuclear power plants, RE does not consume huge amounts of water, which is itself a scarce resource (Etango Magazine, 2011: 4/13).
Increasing the use of RE in the short- and medium-term will guarantee a supply mix in the future. Once a huge base load power station, as it is planned for the Kudu project, is build, this power station alone can supply the whole country making investments in low-megawatt RE technologies financially uneconomical. However, since the use of renewables does not require the construction of a costly power station upfront, they can also play a major role for energy security until a base load power station is in place which is not expected before 2018. If Namibia goes for a power plant dependent on fossil fuel, a gas power station will be preferable to a coal power station, as Namibia has gas deposits while coal needs to be imported.
The short-term benefits are most obvious in rural areas where RE contributes to off-grid electrification and thus poverty reduction. The production of RE is the most promising way of providing affordable energy to areas far from available points of connecting to the grid. Due to the vastnesss of the country and low population density, many areas will probably never be connected to the grid (Renkhoff, 2013: 221). The government holds the view that the gap in economic development and quality of life between rural and urban population in the country might be addressed through rural electrification (Ndhlukula, 2009: 2). Invader bush supplying abundant biomass might also play a significant role in the short-term. The advantages of having biomass energy power plants is that they create a form of energy development outside major towns which, in turn, creates economic opportunities in other areas, because reducing bush encroachment not only improves agricultural production but also creates jobs.
Increased use of RE technologies is usually followed by potentially higher energy prices. It is a fact that the high installation cost of RE technologies and lack of well-marketed, affordable and easily accessible financing schemes for the purchase, installation and maintenance of equipment as well as a missing guarantee of price stability for independent power producers remain the major impediments for the implementation of more RE technologies in Namibia (Etango Magazine, 2011: 4/13). RE technologies often have a higher capital cost – but conversely, often a lower operating cost – making loan finance facilities necessary to spread the cost over time. However, investing in conventional energy sources by building a huge gas power station is also very costly and in either case rising energy prices for consumers are very likely.

5. Projects and initiatives to improve the power supply situation

The Namibian situation has necessitated the Namibian government in collaboration with NamPower to put short-, medium- and long-term plans in place to ensure the security of supply. Therefore, NamPower has initiated a number of generation and transmission project to increase generation capacity to meet the ever increasing demand.
As Paulinus Shilamba, CEO of NamPower, said in his presentation on the Windhoek Mining Expo, there are currently three projects NamPower is focusing on:

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  The Short Term Critical Supply Project (STCS)
  
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  The Kudu gas project
  
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  The Baynes hydropower project
  

Under the Short Term Criticial Supply Project a number of short- and medium-term initiatives are planned, while the Kudu gas project and the Baynes hydropower project are Namibia’s long-term projects. The Short Term Critical Supply Project runs until 2018 when the new base load power station is expected to be commissioned. Crucial to the success of the STCS is that everyone in Namibia commits his/her own contribution by reducing the personal electricity consumption by at least 10%.

5.1 Short-term projects

There are a number of short-term projects of which the most important undertaking is to enter into power purchase agreements with other SADC countries to be supplied with electricity by them. This includes not only the negotiation of new power purchase agreements but also re-negotiation of existing ones with neighbouring power utilities, especially with South African’s Eskom, Zesco in Zambia and Zesa in Zimbabwe. The agreement with Zimbabwe, which was supposed to end in October 2013, could be extended and will now run until the end of 2014. NamPower also signed a contract with Aggreko Mozambique for the supply of 90 MW to be wheeled through Electricidade de Mozambique and Eskom transmission networks. The contract will run until August 2015. The electricity is generated by a gas-fired power station in Mozambique.
Besides doing what Namibia already did for decades, namely importing electricity, short-term projects also include generating electricity locally, albeit in smaller scale.
The most interesting projects that actively involve the people of Namibia are the so-called Demand Side Management (DSM) programmes.¹⁰ These programmes include the distribution of LED lights, solar water heaters, access to standby generators for large customers energy audits and ripple control initiatives. Under the theme ‘Power of Knowing’ public awareness campaigns are run who advocate energy saving initiatives.
With an investment of about N$ 45 million it is envisaged to replace the turbine runners of the three old units at the Ruacana hydropower station. This replacement adds additional 15 MW bringing the total installed capacity to 347 MW. The success, however, will depend on the rainfall in coming years. The manufacturing of the runners is currently in progress.
Additionally, the Van Eck coal power station will be rehabilitated. It has been out of operation since October 2012. NamPower decided to extend the life span of the power station by ten years through replacing and refurbishing most of its major components and to fully automate its functions. Van Eck will then meet its original design output of 120 MW and a guaranteed base-load output of at least 90 MW.
Furthermore, NamPower negotiates with independent power producers who will feed in electricity into the grid from renewable energy sources. A solar photovoltaic plant of 40 MW is planned as well as two other 10 MW solar power plants. Utilisation options for power plants fuelled by biomass from encroacher bush were already identified in several studies. These options include decentralised biomass power plants as well as decentralised hybrid power plants based on biomass and solar.
Lastly, if Namibia faces an emergency, NamPower has developed a plan to acquire and install leased diesel generators immediately. Generators that are usually used for mining might come into consideration in such an emergency. They are available on the international markets. These come at a very high cost though, and will only be considered as last option.