Dear Editor,
NDOLA Energy Limited is owned by GL Africa Energy Limited of the United Kingdom (UK).
I became familiar with the Ndola Energy Project when I was prospecting for business at the construction site while working for Atlas Copco as a Sales Engineer for machines called Compressors and Generators back in 2012.
At the time of commissioning ,the NDOLA Energy plant was powered by 6 Electro- Mechanical engines running on heavy fuel oil (HFO). The HFO is a by-product supplied from the Indeni oil refinery, located right next to the Ndola Energy Plant.
Unless foreign suppliers of HFO have been identified ( obviously at a far much higher cost), Without the affordable HFO from INDENI, the engines at NDOLA Energy will not work and Consequently, the 105MW electrical power will not be generated by the machines.
The Ndola Energy Plant which is the first and only HFO powered plant in Zambia, commenced operations in 2013, and the 50 MW electricity produced under phase 1 was sold to Zambia Electricity Supply Company Ltd (ZESCO Ltd).
Through a Power Purchase Agreement ( PPA) between Zesco and Ndola Energy, the generated power is supplied through the 33kV lines to the Refinery and Skyways Substations in Bwana Mukubwa and into the National Grid.
In 2017, an additional 55MW was added to the national grid through the same electrical network after NDOLA Energy expanded it’s generation capacity bringing total design electrical capacity to 105 MW.
In short there is only one available option for NDOLA Energy Limited, which is to import the HFO to run it’s engines.
Note: The Author holds a degree in Electrical/ Mechanical Engineering with a major in Machine Dynamics.
Eng. Christopher Kang’ombe
