NamPower's new mobile substations, designed to facilitate continuous power supply in case of breakdowns at substations, arrived in Windhoek today.

The substations were bought at a cost of N$50 million and were assembled in South Africa, as their components are from different countries. 

In a statement, NamPower said the two medium-power mobile substations named Rhino and Buffalo are able to transfer 20 MVA or Mega Volt-Amperes. MVA, in simple terms, is the amount of power that a transformer can handle.

Nampower says the substations will support the entity in providing a temporary point of supply to major customers within a significantly shorter period than it would normally be required to provide a permanent supply.

The power utility company first embarked on the Mobile Substations Project in 2018, with the main objective of providing security of supply during transformer failure at a substation by enabling restoration of the power supply. 

In addition to this benefit, the mobile substations will be used to facilitate an alternative temporary power supply where new installations, maintenance or upgrading must or will be conducted.

Named after the Big Five, Rhino and Buffalo substations are an addition to the current small mobile substations, Lion of 10 megavolt-amperes, and Nampower plans to secure another substation of 40 megavolt-amperes to be named Elephant. 

Travelling 40 kilometres per hour over a distance of 1,400 kilometres, the substations left South Africa on March 25. However, they had to be rerouted via Botswana due to the collapsed bridge on the Windhoek-Rehoboth road.