BPC seeks P2bn for solar power projects
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday October 31, 2017 18:00
Government has signed the Paris Agreement to increase green energy mix by 25% within the next seven years, which means that Botswana needs to establish 250MW on solar capacities by 2025.
As part of the agreement, Botswana has also pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emission to zero by 2036.
According to the corporation’s chief executive officer Dr Stefan Schwarzfischer, to achieve this, they have taken the first steps into a greener environment through the implementation of the solar power plant projects.
“As the corporation, we have taken the bold step to ensure that government attains its aim as we are currently embarking on building solar power plants to electrify more rural areas,” he said.
The projects include the construction of a 100MW Solar Power Plant next year as well as the electrification of more rural areas, which are distant from any of the corporation’s grid by building 1MW Solar Power Plants and the distribution network in 20 rural villages.
The corporation would also establish solar Grid Tide Power Plants of the size of 1 to 3MW in 12 dedicated villages with an overall capacity of 60MW. Apart from 1.3MW power station in Phakalane, Botswana’s power supply is currently met from coal resources.
Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tobela Solar Power for the Seronga village, which would establish a 1MW solar power plant, the BPC last week signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the company for a Grid Tide Solar Power Plant.
“During the signing of the MoU, both parties agreed that they would conclude the PPA within the next two months which was done in only six weeks,” he said.
As part of the deal, the power plant would provide power to Tobela Village during the day whilst BPC would provide power during the night.
Further Dr Schwarzfischer said in the coming months, the corporation would increase its distribution network in the Tobela area to cover and connect the whole village that would connect more people in rural areas.
“Additional solar capacities are at planning stage and would be executed once the three projects have been concluded. The corporation and other independent power producers would finance some of these projects,” he said.
Earlier the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security said about 145,000 out of the 242,000 households can be reached by the end of 2021 if the off-grid solar was implemented this year. This equates to 60% of total off -grid market or an installed capacity of approximately 30MW.