BPC eases power cuts but future still unclear
Lewanika Timothy | Wednesday April 23, 2025 06:00
The decision follows the recovery of some units at the Morupule B Power Station, which has helped to stabilise grid supply.
In a memo issued by the corporation, BPC executives communicated that power generation had normalised thanks to improvement in power supply and negotiation of power supply from South Africa. “This positive development follows the successful synchronisation of the third of four generation units at Morupule B Power Station (MBPS), significantly increasing local generation capacity to 390MW and enhancing the overall power supply situation,” executives shared.
As BPC grappled with mitigating power shortage issues it was revealed to legislators that BPC owed South Africa’s power generation parastatal, Eskom more than P2.6 billion and that the debt had increased significantly over the last two months, making short-term procurement of electricity from South Africa an uphill task
President Duma Boko had told a kgotla meeting in Letlhakeng that Botswana’s power crisis has reached a near-panic level because Eskom had threatened to cut supply due to the increasing debt. Notwithstanding the recovery of units at MBPS, the power supply situation remains volatile. Fluctuations in generation capacity may necessitate implementation of strategic measures to manage the supply-demand imbalances and maintain grid stability
Minerals and Energy minister, Bogolo Kenewendo, gave legislators and the public a painfully detailed narration of the troubles Morupule B has undergone since its commissioning in 2012, indicating the cycles of hope and despair consumers have endured over the years.
“The performance of Morupule B has been erratic since commissioning in 2012–2013 due to substandard construction with significant noncompliance to specifications, poor workmanship, and equipment/material defects.
“Given the construction and equipment defects, the plant experiences frequent failures notably on boiler pressure parts, thus affecting power generation from time to time and averages operational efficiency between 35% to 65%. “It should be noted that the global standard is 85%,” she said. As a remedy for the power crisis, government revealed that it was considering a new 615-megawatt plant to be built on a fast-tracked basis most likely near the Morupule Power Stations, in light of the challenges being experienced with the major repairs at Morupule B. The new power station, should it go ahead, will be required to be built within 18 and 24 months, Kenewendo, told legislators last month.
“Botswana Power Corporation continues to pursue the Morupule B defects remediation project, notwithstanding challenges being experienced with the first unit to be remediated,” she said. “As a mitigation measure, the Ministry will consider other base load generation options to avert a power crisis should the Morupule B remedial works not yield the intended objectives. “In this regard, the government is considering a brownfield 615MW base load coal-fired power plant with an implementation timeline of 18 to 24 months.”