Govt hires Cameroonian, Spanish engineers for wind energy assessment

The Ministry of Energy and Power Development has selected a joint venture of Noubeg Power and ATI Consultores to carry out a wind energy assessment locally costing €1 381 150 (US$1 508 187,17) to determine its power generation potential.

Noubeg Power is a Cameroonian design, consulting and engineering firm that carries out studies and engineering services in the energy sector and more generally in economic and social development.

ATI Consultores is a Spanish engineering and architecture company that designs and manages civil, electrical and mechanical construction projects.

In February, the ministry’s renewable energy director Sosten Ziuku revealed that wind energy remained untapped despite a potential to generate 228 megawatts (MW) of power.

Zimbabwe has an installed capacity of 2 412MW, but is generating between 1 100MW and 1 400MW against peak demand of more than 2 000MW.

“Noubeg P has been selected as consultant by the Energy and Power Development ministry of Zimbabwe to conduct the wind resource assessment subcomponent of the energy sector reform support project,” Noubeg Power said in a statement.

“The Energy and Power Development ministry with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB) would like to carry out wind energy resource measurements on eight sites that have the highest wind energy potential in Zimbabwe.

“These sites are to be determined through measurements as well as modelling exercise or analysis of publicly available data.”

Noubeg Power said the intention was to measure wind speed and direction at these sites and remotely collect data for at least one year at a height of 80 to 100 metres.

AfDB is supporting the project through providing financing for the joint venture partnership.

“The purpose of this project is to create an accurate knowledge base of the wind resource available in Zimbabwe through measurement and analysis of wind speed data, to help the country plan for wind energy projects,” Noubeg Power said.

“The most promising sites will then be subjected to detailed feasibility studies and environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) conforming to the AfDB Integrated Safeguard System for category 1 projects. The data and information generated will be used in designing large-scale wind power generation projects for Zimbabwe.”

The contract will last for 24 months in which Noubeg Power is tasked with several duties:

“(a) To carry out wind resource assessment in Zimbabwe by installing appropriate equipment to measure, accurately, wind speeds at a height of 80 100 m, (b) to collect site specific wind data for a minimum period of 12 months, with data recovery exceeding 95% in each month.

“(c) to ascertain wind power that could be generated at each specific site, (d) to carry out bankable feasibility studies for each promising site, and (e) to carry out an ESIA conforming to international best practices, that is, AfDB Integrated Safeguard System.”

ESIA or environmental and social impact assessments is meant to predict a project’s potential adverse environmental and social impacts to maximise benefits and minimise such adverse impacts.-ebsinessweekl