Executive Project Summary – Malawi Wind Farm
Market Summary
Malawi has an electricity production of 2,180 MWh and a consumption of 2,027 MWh. The 95% of the electricity generation comes from hydroelectric sources giving to the high country risks of supply shortages in adverse weather conditions when the water level of the hydroelectric plants is below the technical specifications of the turbines. The country has no other important source of energy having the country the necessity to develop new energy sources different to the hydroelectricity.
The surroundings of the Malawi Lake develop winds over the 10 m/s average per year, opening the opportunity to wind power energy to be developed in that area. The development of a wind farm project has technical advantages than other places of Africa but brings other challenges respect to the permissions and government relations.
Technical Specifications
The wind farm will be located on the shores of the Lake Malawi in an area of 4000 hectares. The farm won't be located over the water but on the south shores of the Lake Malawi near Monkey Bay. The farm will have 80 wind turbine generators with a nominal capacity 160 MW for the whole farm. The Eolic farm will connect to the national electric system of Malawi by the nearest electric transformation center in Monkey Bay. The wind farm will generate electricity with a primary voltage of 13.8 kV that will be supplied to the national electric system (Aweo).
The wind turbines will be designed and manufactured by Hitachi. The wind turbines have a rotor diameter of 80 meters, the standard size for applications inshore locations. The speed rotor rotation is 17.5 revolutions per minute (Hitachi). The turbines require a wind speed from 4 m/s to 25 m/s; they support speeds of 50 m/s in ten minutes and 70 m/s for three seconds. The wind speed in the area has an average value of 17 m/s with a measured high value of 59 m/s.
Resource Qualification
The most important resource for a wind farm is the average wind speed in the area where the project will be developed. The wind has a direction to the North West. That situation requires that the axis of the rotors will be parallel to the average direction of the wind to facilitate the transformation of the kinetic energy of the wind to the mechanic energy of the rotors. Once the rotors achieve the design velocity of 17.5 revolutions per minute, the kinetic energy is transformed into electric energy thanks to the Hitachi generators.
The wind in the shores of Malawi Lake has a constant behavior along the year allowing the project to be technically approved (Sgurr Energy).
The second resource required to facilitate the execution of the project is an electric line that facilitates the transport of the electric energy from the wind farm to the Malawi electric system. The near location of the wind farm with Monkey Bay reduces the costs of electricity transportation (by wires) to the national electric system.
Management Summary
The project has a structure of three steps: Engineering, Procurement, and Execution. The project will have a Project Leader that will have under his command four Coordination's and will report to the stakeholders of the project. The stakeholders of the project are the government of Malawi, the engineering company and the technology providers (Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm).
The engineering step executes the conceptual engineering which defines the location of the wind farm, the generation capacity, farm dimensions and the technical requirements for the farm functioning. The basic engineering defines the major equipment's specifications, and the detailed engineering defines the minor equipment's requirements for the project. The detailed engineering generates all the detailed drawings, the bill of materials and the installation procedures.
The procurement process consists of the acquisition process of the goods and services required for the wind farm, starting with the wind turbines, wiring, control equipment, civil works, and facilities construction. The procurement includes the negotiations with national and international contractors (Stantec Consulting Ltd.).
The execution consists of the preparation of the Farm, erection of wind turbines and the connection with the wind farm with the national electric system.
Project Cost
The cost of the wind farm starts with the calculation of the wind turbine requirement and the erection costs of the wind farm. The following are the calculations:
It is important to highlight the importance of the selection of the wind turbines according to the local conditions of the wind and the required output. The cost of the wind turbines represents 80% of the overall cost of the project. It is important to consider that Malawi has a transparency score of 31 over 100, positioning the country in the position 112 over 168 in the transparency index (Transparency International). The project has the risk to affront delays or over costs to the project due to corrupt government employees. The project aims the principle not to support the payment of bribes or other over the cost that is not transparent to the stakeholders of the project (Wind Industry).
Revenue Sources and Business Model
The sources of the future revenues of the project are from the sale of the 100% of the electricity generation to the national electric system. Malawi has centralized the production and distribution of electric energy to the country. The wind farm will sign a long-term contract with the Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi (ESCM). The considered price for MWh will be a mathematical function of the cost of the hydroelectric energy produced in the country by the ESCM. It is important to remember that Malawi generates more than 95% of the electricity supply from hydroelectric plants.
The contract will consider a ratio of 2:1 price of the electricity from wind sources over the price of the hydroelectricity. The contract will not assure a minimum sale per year, due to the technical specifications of the wind energy that are related to the weather and wind conditions of the area where the wind farm is located (Why Hydropower).
The wind farm will have a nominal capacity of 160 MW, but for legal and contract issues, the minimum capacity will be considered 80 MW to protect the wind farm of future demands from the ESCM.
The payments to the wind farm will be on a monthly basis by the ESCM according to the measured output of energy (in MWh) in a 30 days period. The payments will be used to pay the capital and interests of the acquisition costs of all the equipment and the erection works. The project will have a total return over the investment in eleven years.
Social, economic and environmental benefits
■ The wind farm will support an elementary school and a technical school in the Monkey Bay area. The support will consist in one thousand scholarships and equipment donation. The wind farm technicians will offer free courses on wind energy to students to transmit basic knowledge of the technology to kids and teenagers.
■ The wind farm will generate 30 direct jobs and 150 indirect jobs in the Monkey Bay area. The plan is to have 100% Malawi employees in a five-year period.
■ The most important environmental benefit is the zero greenhouse emission per MWh generated by the wind farm. The noise levels are the only environmental issue that will be 100 dB inside the wind farm (Youtube - Loch of Shining Waters).
■ The success of the wind farm will open new opportunities to replicate the project in other areas near the Malawi Lake.
Stakeholder engagement
It is very important the compromise of all the stakeholders to the success of the project, those are, the government, the technology supplier, the engineering company and the investors for the success of the project. The surroundings of the Malawi Lake bring opportunities for the development of the wind energy generation (Malawi Wind Power).
Works Cited
Aweo. Size specifications of common industrial wind turbines. 2015. Web. 20 June 2016.
Hitachi. Wind Turbine Specification. 2016. Web. 20 June 2016.
Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm. Project Description. 2014. Web. 19 June 2016.
Malawi Wind Power. Teaching Malawian students how to build small scale wind turbines. 2016. Web. 20 June 2016.
Sgurr Energy. SgurrEnergy returns to Malawi for wind measurement project. 2 March 2016. Web. 20 June 2016.
Stantec Consulting Ltd. Niagara Region Wind Farm. 2015. Web. 19 June 2016.
Transparency International. Country Profile - Malawi. 2015. Web. 19 June 2016.
Why Hydropower. Comparing Energy Sources for Electricity. 2014. Web. 20 June 2016.
Wind Industry. How much do wind turbines cost? 2016. Web. 19 June 2016.
Youtube - Loch of Shining Waters. Wind Turbine Noise. 2012. Web. 19 June 2016.
