2 May 2024
INTERVIEW: Xaris chief technical officer Chiraag Gokaldas talks Namibia
Publication date: 14 July 2017
Gas Strategies Group
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ISSN: 0964-8496
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Namibia is one of several sub-Saharan African countries seeking to introduce natural gas to their power mix through a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project. Xaris, the South African infrastructure development company behind Namibia’s planned Walvis Bay LNG terminal, hopes the project will help reduce the country’s carbon emissions and wean it off coal-derived electricity imports from South Africa.
Tariff increases and supply constraints faced by South Africa in recent years have spurred Namibia to consider independent security of supply and generation options. However, difficulties around thermal plant development, allied to a challenging regulatory environment, are holding back African FSRU projects from reaching final investment decision (FID), says Chiraag Gokaldas, chief technical officer at Xaris.
“There has been a sort of ‘anxiety’ when it comes to ...