Staff Reporter
AFTER years of delays, the Namibian and Angolan governments have finally committed to ensuring the successful completion of the Baynes Binational Hydropower Project, with the recent signing of the Baynes Implementation Agreement.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the two countries by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, and Angola’s Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges.
Alweendo hailed the signing as historic, emphasising that the plans for the agreement have been in the works for decades. He explained that in the late 1980s, SWAWEK, now NamPower, first explored the idea of building a hydropower scheme near Epupa. In 1991, he continued, the governments of Namibia and Angola agreed to proceed with detailed technical and environmental investigations for a potential hydropower development at Epupa, with the studies beginning in 1992.
“Between 1995 and 1998, a full Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed Epupa hydropower scheme was conducted. During the study, all possible hydropower development sites along the Kunene River, downstream of Ruacana, were investigated. The Epupa Site was selected as the more technically viable one, with the Baynes Site as the preferred alternative,” Alweendo explained.
However, he added that while the Epupa Scheme was deemed more technically viable, studies revealed it would be far more disruptive to the local Ovahimba people’s way of life, as it would require flooding a broad valley extensively used by farmers and herders. As a result, the Baynes Site emerged as the preferred option from both an environmental and social impact perspective.
“The Baynes Site, however, being the preferred site from an environmental and social impact perspective, has always remained an option for both countries. Due to a reduction in regional import capacity, increasing costs associated with electricity generation, and growing demands for electricity in both countries, this power generation alternative was revisited in 2007, when the two governments decided to commission a new feasibility study to determine the environmental and technical viability of the new site alternatives,” Alweendo explained.
However, he added, due to funding constraints, the next phase of development could not proceed at that time.
“In 2019, the two governments resolved to commission the updating of all the studies. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the commencement of the studies was delayed until 2021, and they were completed towards the end of 2023, with approvals granted at the last binational meeting of Energy Ministers in Angola on 3 June 2024,” Alweendo explained.
He also revealed that the project’s next milestone is to secure funding and reach financial closure by the end of 2026, with construction of the dam expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
