Mokaila rules out incentives for solar

Staff Writer | Friday March 7, 2014 16:08

Mokaila was responding to a series of questions from Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) representatives at a meeting he held with them on Tuesday on the ongoing power crisis.

Several BOCCIM members asked Mokaila why government did not seem eager to develop the country’s solar energy sector when the country had a proven abundance of sunlight around the year.

“Government subsidises the power from coal and for renewable energy to come into play in the same manner, you need to pay a cost reflective tariff for the coal power,” he said. “If that does not happen, then it would be a significant burden for government to bear. “Once we have cost-reflective tariffs, then the Botswana Power Corporation could be in a position to maintain and invest in terms of solar.”

While government’s stated policies are accommodative of renewable energy, including solar power, progress in development has been slow with authorities blaming funding constraints and the need to resolve the six-year-old electricity crisis.

The major government-backed solar initiative, a 200-megawatt project, was first mooted in 2006, with potential sites identified in 2009 and a bankable feasibility study scheduled for 2011.

The project has been over-shadowed by the much-publicised troubles at the 600MW coal-fired Morupule B project on which the country hangs its electricity self-sufficiency hopes.

The National Energy Policy, however, aims to have 25% of the country’s electricity met from renewable sources by 2030. At present, the country only has one operating solar facility, a 1.3MW station in Phakalane commissioned in 2012 through a US$12.7 million loan from Japan.

“We are not closing our eyes to solar or the need to use it,” Mokaila told the briefing. “Solar looks good over a period, but the initial capital costs are very high and we have to look at competing needs without compromising any.

“We have the photovoltaic plant in Phakalane that cost P93 million. With that money, I can reticulate power in 30 villages. This is about the reality of changing people’s lives and that is my priority.”

The minister said government was coming up with a new strategy ‘for solar to make a difference in people’s lives’.