BPC import costs rise as Morupule B repairs drag
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday October 18, 2021 06:00
The situation is weighing on the utility’s finances at a time when government is due to reduce the support it has been giving through subsidies.
In previous financial years, the corporation spent P860 million and P1.5 billion respectively on power imports.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises recently, BPC CEO, David Kgoboko, said there have been continued efforts to decrease the reliance on electricity imports and self-generate adequate power supply.
The country’s electricity demand peaks in winter at about 550MW.
“There is an ongoing project to try and remedy the situation at the 600MW Morupule B Power Station because if fully functioning, we will be able to meet the local demand and have the potential to export and generate more revenue,” he told legislators. “A month ago when all the units were running we were able to export.”
The ability to export is a much desired goal for the BPC as it would bring in valuable foreign currency receipts, boosting its books and enabling it to service dollar loans it took on in 2009 for the construction of Morupule B.
Figures released by Statistics Botswana recently indicate that Botswana imported 47.8% of the total electricity distributed during the second quarter of 2021. Eskom was the main source of imported electricity at 57.8% of total electricity imports. The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) accounted for 17.8%, while the balance was sourced from ZESCO, Nampower and cross-border electricity markets. Cross-border electricity markets are an arrangement whereby towns and villages along the borders are supplied with electricity directly from neighbouring countries such as Namibia and Zambia.
Remedial works at Morupule B are ongoing and Unit Four is due to be complete before the end of November. The unit will then be run by the engaged contractor for three months to prove that it is stable.
Kgoboko explained that thereafter, Unit Two would be taken out of service in April next year for refurbishment. Initially, BPC had anticipated completing the entire refurbishment by 2023, but the CEO said the date might move to 2024 as work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the recent power outages, Kgoboko said the BPC is working on doing assessments on the grid distribution to identify gaps and close them.
“We are suffering power outages mainly because of our maintenance backlog. Our transformers are overloaded and our equipment is aged,” he said.