BPC looks to Mozambique for supplies
Mbongeni Mguni | Thursday March 20, 2014 12:43
The BPC is also in discussions with Zambia’s national power company, ZESCO, for further supplies although it does not expect these to evolve from their current non-firm to firm. The local utility occasionally receives up to 50MW from Zambia.
“We are talking to EDM because they have a project where they expect to be able to give us firm supplies of up to 80MW,” he told journalists. “With ZESCO we don’t expect the contract to be firm but the talks are to simply formalise and support what we are already receiving.”
Another component of the BPC’s short-term plan involves the purchase of up to 250MW of electricity from two Independent Power Producers with “South African and European linkages”. The short-term plan is expected to provide backup to the economy while the BPC fights to return Morupule B to full capacity. Raleru explained that the plan is intended to carry the economy through winter when assessments and maintenance will take place on the four units. “These are our options and we have to look and say, ‘these are our plans and our shortfall,’ so that these options can be optimised to close the gap,” Raleru told Mmegi Business in a later interview. “It does not mean we will take on all the supply available in the short-term plan.”
The country has suffered widespread, prolonged and erratic electricity blackouts in recent months due to a collapse of domestic generation caused by faults at Morupule B and limited imports from South Africa.
South Africa has slashed its Botswana supplies from about 300MW to 100MW in recent months due to shortages in that country. On Thursday March 6, Eskom cut its Botswana supplies to zero, as it implemented load shedding in South Africa for the first time in six years.
The BPC expects to finalise the re-modification and repairs on the three faulty Morupule B units and restore them in phases, with Unit 3 being restarted first in April, followed by Unit 2 in May and Unit 4 in June.
Raleru said when Unit 3 is reintegrated into the grid in April the country should experience a lower incidence of load shedding during off-peak hours, but continue with a high risk of blackouts during peak periods.
Electricity demand and supply should “almost balance” out when Unit 2 comes back onto the grid in May, while the system will experience a slight surplus when the fourth unit is restored in June, the CEO said.
“On a long term basis, our target is 85% availability at Morupule, but for winter we are aiming for 100%,” Raleru said.
Currently, the country’s peak power demand is estimated at about 600MW set against domestic and imported supplies of 410MW as well as occasional supplies from ZESCO and EDM.