Namibia’s capital city Windhoek is set to construct a new electricity substation to cater to electricity demand for commerce, industry, and households.
The new development follows the announcement by the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) on Wednesday to provide 155 million Namibia dollars (about 10.4 million U.S. dollars) in finance for the City of Windhoek’s Khomas substation.
The existing 66 kV transmission network that supplies Windhoek is reaching maximum capacity and Nampower’s Van Eck transmission substation has reached its physical and operational margins, said Chairperson of the City of Windhoek Management Committee, Illse Keister, adding that the proposed Khomas intake substation will ensure additional capacity to support the forecasted demand.
“Supply capacity to Windhoek is restricted to 160 MVA so a 90 MVA upgrade is needed to cater for forecasted growth in electricity demand for commerce, industry, and households,” he added.
According to Keister, the substation will be developed by the City of Windhoek and Nampower.
“Nampower will assume the responsibility of constructing and maintaining the substation. The city of Windhoek will earn revenue through electricity tariffs from the increased capacity. Part of this revenue will be used to repay the loan to the DBN,” he added.’
Martin Inkumbi, the DBN’s CEO, said the loan will be invaluable in sustaining Windhoek households, commerce and industry for the coming years.
“The expected increase in the number of households over the next 5 years will result in increased demand for electricity, which will put pressure on the City’s energy supply infrastructure, hence the need to support the expansion of energy generation and distribution infrastructure,” Inkumbi said.
Namibia currently imports most of its electricity primarily through bilateral contracts with South Africa’s national power utility (Eskom) and to a lesser extent, the Southern Africa Power Pool. Enditem
