Morupule A roars back to life

Morupule A, with a nameplate capacity of 132MW, was for decades the country’s sole power station, until it was mothballed in 2012 after an adverse cost-benefit analysis. At that time, the power station’s plant availability had dropped to below 30%, from 84% in 2008. The refurbishment, costing approximately P2 billion, has been finalised and testing of each of the four units is currently underway, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) chief executive officer, Stefan Schwarzfischer said.

“Right now we are getting 45MW from the plant but this goes up and down because it is on a trial test and we ramp the systems up and down, meaning there’s no constant flow,” the CEO said. “Two units will be up and running on a commercial basis by the end of this month and the other two should follow two weeks after.