Namibia Approves Baynes Implementation Plan

Wedoany.com Report-Nov 18,  Cabinet this week approved the implementation agreement for the construction of the Baynes Hydro Power Plant with the government of Angola, further advancing the power project.

Giving an update on matters related to the project, information minister Emma Teofilus said mines minister Tom Alweendo was authorised to sign the agreement on behalf of Namibia with his Angolan counterpart.

"Cabinet approved the implementation agreement between the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Angola on the development, construction and operation of the Baynes Hydro Power Plant and Cabinet authorised the minister of mines and energy to sign the said agreement, on behalf of the government," Teofilus said while providing a Cabinet briefing update this week.

Initially earmarked to deliver 600 megawatts (MW), this plant has seen its planned capacity increase to 881 MW, the Baynes hydroelectric power plant will be situated on the Lower Kunene River along the Namibia-Angola border. Electricity generated from the plant will be shared equally between the two countries through the Namibia-Angola Transmission Interconnection platform. The project will be funded through a public financing model and is projected to cost US$1.3 billion.

"If it is public funding, we will have one year to mobilise sources of financing under favourable conditions to carry out this work as quickly as possible," Angolan energy minister João Baptista Borges was previously quoted as saying.

Similar to the Ruacana Power Station, the Baynes dam will function as a mid-merit peaking station, so that NamPower can avoid buying imported power during peak hours. During the wet season, the Baynes Power Station will run at full capacity, while during the dry season the generators will generate at maximum during mid-merit/peak periods only while 71 MW would be generated during the off-peak periods.

The Baynes project, on the Cunene River, has been in progress since 2008 when the feasibility study was commissioned and completed in 2014. A follow-up study was initiated in 2021, and completed in 2023.

According to a communiqué from the meeting, the two ministers approved the transformation of the Baynes project offices into a joint office to be located either in Luanda or Windhoek.

They also approved the development of an additional regulating dam, about 12 kilometres downstream from the main dam, with a capacity of 21 megawatts.