Southern African Development Community

<p>The Beitbridge border between South Africa and Zimbabwe is the busiest in the Southern Africa region, both in terms of commercial traffic and the movement of people. A joint SA/Zimbabwe border efficiency management project was initiated, but stalled after committees and draft MoU had been drawn up. Zimbabwe is currently proceeding with upgrading and expansion of infrastructure using PPP options. The plans incorporate the development of a OSBP in the long run.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" [removed]="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;
background:white">The Baynes Hydropower Project is situated along the Cunene
River, 185 km downstream of Ruacana at the border separating the two countries.
The project involves the construction of a hydropower dam on the Cunene River,
48 km downstream of the Epupa Falls. It is envisaged that the Baynes
mid-merit/peaking power station"’s capacity will be in the range of 600 MW,
which will be shared equally by Namibia and Angola. Like Ruacana Power Station,
the new dam will function as a mid-merit peaking station, which will help to
offset costly power imports during peak hours. During the wet season the Baynes
Power Station is predicted to run at full capacity, while during the dry season
the generators will generate at maximum during mid-merit/peak periods only,
whilst 71 MW would be generated during the off-peak periods.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" [removed]="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;
background:white">The Baynes Dam will be 200 meters high and will permanently
flood an area of approximately 19 km2 with an estimated maximum of 57 km2 at
peak level. The dam will be constructed to achieve a reservoir water level at a
maximum of 580m, ensuring the foot of the Epupa Falls, which is at an elevation
of 580 metres, is not flooded, even when the reservoir is at full supply
capacity. The area inundated by the reservoir will hold 2,650 million m³ of
water which is about half of the river's annual runoff of 5,000 million m³. The
structure of the dam consists of a rock fill embankment with a concrete face.
In total, the rock fill will be 12 million cubic meters. The water face of the
wall is lined with a concrete face that is about 80 centimeters thick at the
bottom and around 30 centimeters at the top and provides the water tightness to
the dam wall.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" [removed]="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;
background:white">At the same site turbines will be installed along with a
power plant, switch plant and ancillary structures. Power lines will be
constructed from the plant to the nearest substations in Angola and Namibia
(subject to a separate EIA process). The Baynes Hydropower Station will not
affect the Epupa Falls as these are upstream but may impact the river
downstream including the river mouth.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" [removed]="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;
background:white">The project"’s initial studies were conducted between 1995 and
1998. Detailed techno-economic and environmental feasibility studies were
conducted from 2009 to 2012. The Permanent Joint Technical Commission (PJTC)
appointed the Cunene Consortium (CC) to perform a Techno-Economic Feasibility
Study (TEFS) on the Baynes Hydropower Project. Environmental Resources
Management (ERM) was appointed to conduct and independent Environmental and
Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), in 2009, in parallel and in close consultation
with the techno-economic study. Both TEFS and ESIA are currently being updated.
This will also help in the identification of the funding model. The hydropower
station will also connect the border of the two countries as the dam wall itself
will form a bridge between Angola and Namibia.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" [removed]="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;
background:white">Project oversight is provided by the PJTC, and the project
implementation partners include the power utilities of the two countries,
namely Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) and Rede Nacional de
Transporte de Electricidade (RNT) of Angola, who have mandated the Southern
African Power Pool (SAPP) to coordinate the transmission interconnection.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" [removed]="color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext;
background:white">With regards to the road access infrastructure, the Roads
Authority of Namibia, and INEA (Angolan Roads Authority) have commissioned
detailed environmental and technical studies.</p>

<p>The proposed BGHES is a bi-national hydro power project to be located approximately fifty-four (54) kilometres downstream of the Victoria Falls and will extend across the international boundary between the Republics of Zambia and Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>Through several subsequent studies and analysis (1981,1992-1993, 1998 and 2015) the current technical configuration for the BGHES comprises:</p>
<ul>
<li>176m high, 720m crest length Roller Compacted Concrete gravity arch dam;</li>
<li>Radial gated central crest spillway;</li>
<li>Two surface power plants, one on either side of the river bank, each with a capacity of 1,200MW, giving a combined capacity of 2,400MW;</li>
<li>6 x 200MW Francis turbines in each powerhouse;</li>
<li>Four water intakes delivering water through 4 tunnels (each approximately 1km in length) to the two surface power plants downstream of the dam;</li>
<li>Diversion tunnel</li>
<li>Switchyards for both power plants</li>
<li>Construction of the staff townships with social amenities and office complex for the Authority and Power utilities on Batoka North and Batoka South.</li>
<li>The staff townships will initially be permanent construction camps and located one on the north bank of the dam (in Zambia) and the other one on the south bank (in Zimbabwe).</li>
</ul>
<p>Single trasmission lines in Zambia (directed from the Project)&Acirc; will be located as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>2 x 55km of 330kV, Single Circuit Overhead Transmission lines between Batoka North Bank Power Station and Mukuni Substation, Livingstone.</li>
<li>1 x 170km of 330kV, Single Circuit Overhead Transmission Line between Batoka North Bank Power Station and Muzuma Substation, Choma.</li>
<li>2 x 230km of 330kV, Single Circuit Overhead Transmission Lines between Batoka North Bank Power Station and Nambala Substation, Mumbwa.</li>
</ul>
<p>Single trasmission lines in Zimbabwe (directed from the project)&Acirc; will be located as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Batoka North and Batoka South Interconnector (2 x 400kV);</li>
<li>BGHES to Victoria Falls (1x 400kV x 30km) in Zimbabwe&Acirc; complete with 2 x 400kV line bays;</li>
<li>Victoria Fall to Hwange (1 x 400kV x 55km) line complete with 2 x 400kV line bays</li>
<li>Victoria Falls 400/(132)88kV Substation complete with 4 x outgoing (132)88kV line bays</li>
<li>BGHES to Chakari (2 x 400/330kV x 400km) in Zimbabwe complete with 4 x 400kV line bays.</li>
<li>Chakari to Selous (1 x 330kV x 70km) line in Zimbabwe complete with 2 x 330kV line bays The line will be 400kV construction but operating at 330kV.&Acirc; </li>
<li>Selous to Dema (1 x 330kV x 95km) line in Zimbabwe complete with 2 x 330kV line bays. The line will be 400kV construction but operating at 330kV.&Acirc; </li>
<li>All lines shall come with 2 x Earthwire peaks ( 1 x 48 Core OPGW and 1 x GSW)</li>
</ul>
<p>.</p>
<p>&Acirc; </p>

<p>The project is code named "ANNA" meaning the interconnection between Angola and Namibia. The proposed interconnector involves the construction of power transmission routed via the proposed Baynes Hydropower Plant in Lower Kunene, Namibia, to link the Namibian and Angolan electricity networks in the north western part of Namiiba and the southern part of Angola. </p>