In Namibia, national power utility Namibia Power Corporation (Pty) Ltd (NamPower) has submitted for review the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for its proposed 40 MWe Otjikoto Biomass Power Station. The plant would use woodchips sourced locally from encroacher bush.
With the submission of the EIA, NamPower is advancing the development of its proposed 40 MWe Otjikoto Biomass Power Station. The NA$1.87 billion (≈ US$134 million) proposed power station will be developed as an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) project and will be owned and operated by NamPower where the majority of the costs for the project will be funded from NamPower’s balance sheet.
The proposed project site is approximately 7 km northwest of Tsumeb, in the Oshikoto Region. A harvesting area extending beyond a 100 km radius surrounding the Project Site has been identified from where encroacher bush will be harvested, processed, and transported to the Project Site as its source of fuel.
After the completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping phase for the project, extensive studies were undertaken by the team of Environmental and Social Experts to assess the potential impacts of all project activities.
SLR Environmental Consulting (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd (SLR) has been appointed to undertake the EIA process for the proposed project. The draft EIA report, its appendices, and EMPs have been made available for a 4-week review and comment period ending on November 20, 2020.
