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via Zambia Daily Mail by Online Editor on 5/29/13
CEC to buy 30% stake in NamPower project
By NELLA MUKALENGE
COPPERBELT Energy Corporation (CEC) is close to reaching a deal for the acquisition of shares in a Namibian gas supply project.
CEC is negotiating to acquire 30 percent equity stake in Kudu gas-to-power project, a scheme under the Namibias NamPower energy company.
Kudu project situated in south-western Namibia will pump gas from the Kudu field about 170 kilometres offshore to a combined cycle gas power plant.
NamPower managing director Paulus Shilamba said the deal is expected to be signed before the end of next month.
Mr Shilamba said CEC will also buy 300 megawatts (mw) of electricity from the US$1.2 billion plant to supply to mines on the Copperbelt.
CEC is also keen to take up minority equity shareholding in Kudu Power, Mr Shilamba.
This is according to information obtained by Daily Mail from Engineering News recently.
He said the plant, which will have a total capacity of up to 1,050mw when completed in 2017 will be connected to the Namibian and South African electricity grids for local and regional use.
Mr Shilamba said NamPower will retain a 51 percent stake in the project and is in talks with an overseas partner for the remaining 19 percent.
It [NamPower] is working on a deal with South African power utility Eskom to buy up to 200mw for its energy-starved grid, he said.
He said NamPower has been working on projects to boost supplies of electricity in Namibia, but most have been delayed due to financing problems and disputes over contracts.
Meanwhile, CEC signed an agreement in last November with Namibia through which it intends to construct a120mw heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plant in the mining town of Arandis in Namibia, according to the CECs 2012 annual report.
The report says it is intended that the project will supply power to NamPower, under a long-term power purchase agreement.
The plant will use HFO imported into the port of Walvis bay, but will also include a waste oil recycling facility that will process waste oil from ships docking at Walvis Bay and other locations in southern Africa, the report says.
