Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, met with his Angolan counterpart on Monday to discuss the progress made on the Baynes Binational Hydro Power Project.
Alweendo and Joao Baptista Borges, the Angolan Minister for Energy and Water, held a meeting at the Lauca Hydroelectric Dam in southern Angola on Monday.
During the meeting, the two ministers signed the resolution for the next steps towards the joint implementation of the 881-megawatt Baynes hydroelectric dam.
They also commended the progress made, which includes the completion of the key studies. The remaining assessments are scheduled to be finished before the end of the year.
The Baynes project, along the Cunene River, has been in progress since 2008 when the feasibility study was first commissioned and completed in 2014. A follow-up study was initiated in 2021 and completed in 2023.
According to a communiqué from the meeting, the two ministers approved the transformation of the Baynes Project Offices into a joint office to be located either in Luanda or Windhoek.
They also approved the development of an additional regulating dam, about 12 kilometres downstream from the main dam, with a capacity of 21 megawatts.
The government lawyers of Angola and Namibia are expected to meet in Windhoek this month to finalise the legal review of the Baynes Binational Implementation Agreement.
Alweendo and Borges also reiterated the importance of the Baynes power project for Angola, Namibia, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
“Considering that Angola is not yet connected to the regional transmission network of SADC, it has become crucial that the Angola-Namibia Transmission Interconnection is expedited to ensure that Angola is connected to the regional power trading platform,” read the communiqué.
The two governments are expected to sign the Baynes Bilateral Agreement in July 2024. The energy cooperation agreement will define and formalise the implementation and financing models for the construction of the Baynes hydroelectric plant.