The Erongo Battery Energy Storage System, also Erongo BESS, is a planned battery energy storage system installation in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. The BESS, the first of its kind in the country and in the

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

n region, will be capable of providing 72MWh of clean energy to the Namibian grid.

Location

The BESS unit would be located at the site of

NamPower Namibia Power Corporation, commonly known as NamPower, is the national electric power utility company of Namibia. The company is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the country. Its activities are l ...

's ''Omburu Substation'', approximately , southeast of the city of Omaruru in the

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

, in central Namibia. The geographical coordinates of this location are:21°29'49.0"S, 16°01'40.0"E (Latitude:-21.496944; Longitude:16.027778).

Overview

The BESS station has storage capacity of 58 megawatts. Its design allows for a discharge capacity of 72MWh of energy into the Namibian grid. The BESS is expected to store "locally generated renewable power as well as electricity imported from the

Southern African Power Pool The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is a cooperation of the national electricity companies in Southern Africa under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The members of SAPP have created a common power grid betwe ...

(SAPP)". The electricity will be stored at off-peak times, when it is cheaper. The stored energy can then be discharged "during peak times". The intended benefits include (a) stabilization of NamPower's grid (b) act as a back-up, if and when existing generation facilities fail (c) reduce the cost of electricity fed through the SAPP.

Developers

The BESS station is under development by the Namibia Power Corporation (Pty) Limited, who own the station. The development receives support (financial and technical) from the German State-Owned Investment and Development Bank (KfW). In December 2021, KfW made a grant of €20 million towards the development of this project, estimated at 80 percent of total cost. NamPower is expected to contribute about 20 percent of the cost and pay any outstanding taxes not covered by the KfW grant. In December 2023, NamPower selected a consortium of two Chinese companies to jointly develop the power station. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was awarded to a joint venture between ''Shandong Electrical, Engineering & Equipment Group'' and ''Zhejiang Narada Power Source''. Construction is expected to start in Q1 2024 and commercial commissioning is planned for H2 2025.

References

External links

NamPower gets N$400m battery system grant
As of 21 December 2021. {{Authority control Power stations in Namibia Erongo Region Renewable energy power stations in Namibia

Location

Overview

Developers

See also

References

External links