Building Sores |Gaib begins

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Sores |Gaib 100MW solar power plant took place on Thursday at the site located 33 km northwest of Rosh Pinah on Farm Witputs.By June next year, the power plant named after the “Power of the Sun”, will have a footprint of more or less 250 hectares, where up to 300 000 individual bi-facial crystalline silicon solar panels, arrayed and mounted on north-to-south tracking structures, will stretch out across the arid flatlands.A lease agreement for the section of the huge private farm secures the site for the next 30 years, coinciding with the minimum expected plant lifetime. Future modular integration of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is accommodated in the design.“As we proceed with construction work, I urge all team members of the project, specifically our contractor, as well as our owners’ engineer, Mott MacDonald, together with our Nampower project team, to remain guided by a commitment to transparency, safety, and accountability,” Nampower managing director Kahenge Haulofu said.Turning a pageAccording to him, the development marks the “turning of a page in Namibia’s journey towards cleaner, greener and sustainable energy. “Our country has abundant sun and we are ready to seize the opportunities that renewable energy offers.”The project helps diversify the local energy mix by adding affordable and strategic generation options for the national electricity utility, he explained.According to NamPower’s project manager Fred Bailey, the impact for a country where demand can dip to 650MW, adding 100MW is significant. Already, 53 employees are on site, where site offices and basic amenities are powered by a small, square solar installation.Inhabitants of Rosh Pinah are looking forward to the possibility of the jobs that will be created during the year-long construction period - 400 of them, according to Ouyang FenFen, contractors’ representative for Zhejiang Chint New Energy Development.“We will employ as many local employees over the construction period,” he said. Inclusion Simon Petrus Shigwedha, a local leader in the Tutungeni informal settlement at Rosh Pinah, hopes his fellow residents are going to be included among the employed and that they can enjoy proper conditions and remuneration.He highlights their vulnerability to short-term contracting, below-minimum wage pay and exclusion by subcontractors who bring their staff from elsewhere in the country. The joint venture between China Jiangxi International and Chint New Energy won NamPower’s N$1.6 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in September last year. Apart from the direct jobs, the commitment to spend at least 25% of the contract price on local content amounts to N$356 million. Already local companies like Hopsol are the chosen local engineering firms and are in consideration to be subcontracted for photovoltaic installation, according to FenFen.China Jiangxi International (Namibia) marketing manager Deng Yan promised technical competence, project excellence and timely delivery. “We fully understand that this project is more than a renewable energy initiative, it is a cornerstone of the region’s sustainable development strategy and a significant step toward energy independence.”Financial backingNamPower secured a loan from KfW, the German development bank, to the tune of N$1.3 billion, and will foot the rest of the requirement through own resources.“This solar PV power station is not just another generation facility. It will be our largest solar PV power station to date, and when completed, will contribute significantly to our national energy mix, displacing a significant amount of imported energy and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” Haulofu said.Other similar projects included in NamPower’s current integrated strategic business plan are the 20MW Omburu solar station completed in 2022, the 54MW Anixas II extension inaugurated in March, the 40MW biomass project being built outside Tsumeb, and the 54MW BESS at Omburu, outside Omaruru, he said.Simultaneously, NamPower transmission infrastructure is being extended with 400kV lines to strengthen the backbone of the grid. “To the community of Rosh Pinah and the //Kharas region at large, please remember that the EPC contractor is not here only as a contractor, but also as our guests. We count on you to treat them with the warm welcome and regard that Namibia is known for. Let us mark this occasion with pride, with purpose, and with the knowledge that we are building more than just a power plant, we are building a legacy,” Houlofu concluded.

Building Sores |Gaib begins

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