Namibia launches gasification power plant

| Monday September 27, 2010 00:00

The Combating Bush Encroachment for Namibia's Development (CBEND), installed a 250-kilowatt wood gasification power plant, thereby establishing the country's first independent power producer.

The plant, which is a European Union-funded project, was built on Farm Pierre, 90 kilometres north-west of Otjiwarongo in the Outjo District.

It started delivering its first stream of electricity into the main grid last week.

Isaacks said at the ceremony that the project seeks to open new income-generating opportunities to the agriculture sector, which still formally and informally employs 50 percent of all Namibians.

The bush-to-electricity power plant, Isaacks said, had successfully engaged the Electricity Control Board (ECB), NamPower and Cenored, while maintaining and adhering to rules governing the electricity supply industry.

He said with all the hassle and bustle in the country around a looming electricity crisis, booming uranium mining and the global economic crisis, it went almost unnoticed that in rural Namibia, a small project was taking shape in a silently efficient manner that has grabbed the imagination of many rural people locally and internationally.

'A project that despite its small size, actually stood up to tackle two major concerns to Namibia development: bush encroachment and power shortage.'

He said the project did not talk big, but put action on the ground.

'The project introduces a new techno-logy to Namibia with a scope not only to support national electricity generation, but also address rural electrification.'

Isaacks said almost 80 percent of Namibia's rural population does not have access to electricity. Permanent Secretary at the National Planning Commission, Leevi Hungamo, said the bush-to-electricity power plant cost N$13.3 million.

The money was part of a European Union grant of N$500, 000 that was made available in 2005 and channelled through the NPC. Hungamo said the new plant would play a role in poverty reduction by creating employment for especially resettled farmers in surrounding areas who would supply wood for the gasifier plant.

He said the project complements other uses of encroacher bush such as charcoal, firewood and droppers since the plant can run on fine wood pieces.

 The permanent secretary urged the CBEND Trust as well as the power producer to closely monitor operations in order to feed into the replication process.

'Issues such as water requirement for the plant, plant waste management, risk or harvesting protected species, potential investors and networking with relevant authorities should be top on the agenda for the monitors,' he said.

Hungamo reminded the guests that with funding from the EU, the NPC conducted a strategic environmental assessment study as a tool in the replication of the CBEND concept elsewhere in the country.

The country has 26 million hectares of land that is affected by bush encroachment - (New Era)