Local renewable energy generating plants that incorporate Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) intended specifically for night-time electricity export to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) will not be affected by the extension of the moratorium on the granting of electricity generation licences for export purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Electricity Control Board (ECB) recently announced that the Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, acting on the recommendation it made and in accordance with section 21(1) of the Electricity Act, 2007 (Act No. 4 of 2007), had renewed the moratorium on the granting of export generation licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The renewed moratorium is effective from 5 September 2025 for a period of 40 months, ending 5 January 2029, or until the existing transmission network constraints are alleviated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exemption of power plants that incorporate BESS is subject to the confirmation of viability and night-time transmission capacity by the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), and will be considered on a first-ready, first-served basis, prior to any licence consideration by the ECB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Namibian Independent Power Producers (IPPs) whose participation in transmission infrastructure upgrades within the NTCSA network has been formally confirmed by NTCSA are also exempt from the moratorium. This exemption applies only where the relevant upgrades are specifically intended to alleviate transmission congestion and unlock additional export capacity into SAPP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cApplicants seeking to rely on either of these exemptions are advised to provide formal written confirmation from NTCSA as part of their licence application submission to the ECB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ECB, in collaboration with NamPower, is currently assessing the available capacity and is therefore not considering the submission of new licence applications for export purposes until further notice,\u201d the ECB said in its announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New applications will only be considered after the moratorium is lifted in 2029 or after the applicable transmission constraints are formally confirmed to have been resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ECB remains committed to enabling a competitive, investment-friendly, and sustainable Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) in Namibia. The renewal of this moratorium is not intended to discourage investment in local electricity generation, it is a targeted, time-bound measure to manage a specific and known infrastructure constraint responsibly,\u201d the regulator said in its statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government said it continues to support the development of local generation capacity for domestic supply, as well as renewable energy, storage, and hybrid projects that can demonstrably contribute to alleviating the constraints that necessitated this moratorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Modified Single Buyer (MSB) market framework currently allows private generators to develop generation capacity in Namibia for electricity export purposes. However, limited transmission capacity on the interconnectors within neighboring South Africa continues to constrain the export of electricity from Namibia into the Southern African Power Pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This ongoing transmission constraint means that granting additional generation licences for export purposes at this time could create regulatory obligations the network is not yet able to support. The renewal of the moratorium is therefore viewed as a responsible and prudent regulatory measure to protect the integrity of the local Electricity Supply Industry and the interests of existing and prospective licence holders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Local renewable energy generating plants that incorporate Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) intended specifically for night-time electricity export to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) will not be affected by the extension of the moratorium on the granting of electricity generation licences for export purposes. The Electricity Control Board (ECB) recently announced that the Minister<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy-news","tag-energy-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etangonam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}