Namibia and coal

This article is part of the CoalSwarm coverage of Namibia and coal
Sub-articles:
Namibia and coal Existing power station Van Eck Power Station Proposed coal plants Arandis Erongo power station Power companies and agencies in Namibia NamPower Coal transport an infrastructure in Namibia Trans-Kalahari Railway Pacific Basin coal market
Related articles:
South Africa and coal Mozambique and coal Namibia and coal Zambia and coal World Bank and coal

Namibia currently has no coal mining operations and only one small 120 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station. While there has been some coal exploration, the largest deposit is a high-grade metallurgical coal deposit.

While coal currently plays a limited role in the economy, there are two major developments currently under consideration: the development of a 300 MW Arandis Erongo power station by NamPower at Walvis Bay and the development of the Trans-Kalahari Railway from the Botswana coalfields to Walvis Bay.

Power generation in Namibia

NamPower, a government owned utility, owns and operates most of the generation capacity within the borders of Namibia as well as the national transmission network in Namibia. The current installed generation capacity of the Namibian grid is apprdoximately 498 MW. The current power stations ate the 120 MW Van Eck Power Station at Windhoek, the 240 MW Ruacana hydro power station and the 18.4 MW diesel-fired Paratus Power Station at Walvis Bay.

However, domestic power demand is significantly higher than domestic generation. The shortfall has been supplied through imports from the Southern African Power Pool. With increasing costs of power imports and less surplus capacity in the SAPP, the Namibian government is pushing to expand domestic generation capacity.

Articles and resources

External SourceWatch articles

• South Africa and coal
• Mozambique and coal
• Botswana and coal
• Zambia and coal

External resources

• Paul Baruya and John Kessels, Coal Prospects in Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia, International Energy Agency Clean Coal Centre, December 2013. (Pdf) (This report is available for free to residents of member countries. You can register here.)