This left SWAWEK no choice other than to build a thermal station in SWA/Namibia in order to meet its obligations. This power station, named after the father of the Ruacana idea – Dr. van Eck – is situated just north of Windhoek on a site purchased from the Municipality. Three generators of 30 MW capacity each were installed and because water in the Windhoek area is a scarce and expensive commodity, use was made of "dry-cooling" – at the time, the first such application in the southern hemisphere. The first power was delivered from this station towards the end of June 1972 to SWAWEK’s first consumer – the Municipality of Windhoek.
The cost of this first development amounted to R22 million. In 1979 a fourth generating unit was installed because the hydro-station at Ruacana, which in the meantime had been completed, could not be commissioned because the Angolan Authorities had refused that the sluice gates at the Ruacana diversion weir be closed. The cost of this fourth unit at Van Eck with auxiliary extensions, amounted to R24 million, thus pushing the total cost of the Van Eck Power Station up to R46 million.
In order to supply the northern areas, a 220 kV transmission line was built to just south of Omaruru, where a large substation was erected. From here, two further 220 kV transmission lines were built, one running westwards to supply Swakopmund and Walvis Bay and one northwards to supply Otjiwarongo, Tsumeb and Grootfontein.

All the components of this transmission network with its substations to supply power to Windhoek, Otjiwarongo, Tsumeb, Outjo, Grootfontein and in the west Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, were complete towards the end of 1973 at a total cost of R28 million.
In order to operate and maintain the Van Eck Power Station and the transmission network, SWAWEK had to provide housing, transport and equipment, as well as stores, which at the end of 1978 already amounted to an expenditure of R6 million.
In 1976 it became evident that because the Ruacana Power Station would not be completed in time, an additional power source had to be provided. It was decided to build an interim diesel power station consisting of 4 x 6 MW generating units at Walvis Bay. This station was primarily intended to absorb peak demands and because it always had to be available for this purpose, it was named Paratus. Two years later, a gas turbine of 22 MVA was added for the same purpose, pushing the total capacity up to 46 MVA and the cost to R10 million.
Because the completion of Ruacana was delayed so much, SWAWEK was consequently forced to operate diesel-driven generating units, the fuel costs of which had increased sharply after the 1973 oil crisis. This resulted in operating losses annually, which by the end of 1979 had already amounted to R9 million.
This brought the total capital investment internally in SWA – the Ruacana Scheme excluded – to R99 million.