The transmission line, with a capacity of up to 25MW, enables Tlou to provide the country’s first CBM electricity into the national grid in the fourth quarter of 2023. A ramp-up of up to 10MW supply is expected to be completed in 2024.
The developments, which are part of the first phase of Tlou’s Lesedi Project, also include the construction of substations at both ends of the 66kV transmission line, a gas field and a gas processing facility at Nyamakatse Ranch facility. The project includes the installation of a total of 10MW using one-megawatt generation sets at Nyamakatse Ranch.
The transmission line construction is fully funded by the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund, which holds just under eight percent equity in Tlou and is the energy firm’s single biggest shareholder.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony recently, Tlou Energy executive director, Gabaake Gabaake said the transmission line is the most critical piece of infrastructure for the Lesedi Project because it provides access to market for the gas in the entire tenement area for Tlou Energy.
“Our immediate goal following completion of the 10MW will be to grow our generation to 25MW and beyond,” he said. “If BPC does not require the additional power, we will work with them to put this power into the peaking market of the Southern African Power Pool.”
An equivalent amount of solar generation will also be installed in a hybrid generation system to ensure that every one-megawatt of power produced in the Lesedi Project is even greener, he said.
According to Gabaake, Tlou Energy already has enough independently certified gas reserves to generate more than 10MW and these are expected to grow as exploration and development continue.
To date, Tlou’s projects comprise three main components namely CBM exploration and development, solar power generation, as well as hydrogen and solid carbon production.
“All these components have been designed to work together to produce a cleaner, flexible, and reliable energy solution for Botswana. “Natural gas has lower carbon emissions compared to coal and can work conjunctively with solar generation to produce stable base load power into the grid,” Gabaake said.
On the green energy side, Gabaake said Tlou has made progress piloting a project to produce hydrogen adjacent to the 10MW CBM power. This is in partnership with an Australian company, Synergen Met, which is currently constructing a prototype facility to produce hydrogen and solid carbon from natural gas via plasma torch gas pyrolysis.
The custom-built plant is expected to be installed in the field in the fourth quarter of 2022. Discussions are ongoing with the Botswana Institute of Technology Research and Innovation on establishing a market for the use of hydrogen and solid carbon which has growing demand internationally.
