15 Aug 2024

Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has signed a 25- year Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with six citizen owned Independent Power Producer (IPP) companies. These agreements will facilitate the construction of eight solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, which are expected to collectively deliver a total of 26 Mega Watts (MW) to Botswana’s energy mix

Officiating the Gaborone Solar PV Plant PPA signing ceremony yesterday, His Honour the Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane expressed satisfaction that the contracts marked a significant milestone for indigenous IPPs, enabling them to emerge as key players in the energy industry.

Kgalagadi Resources Development Company, Kweneng Solar, Energy Systems, Botala Energy, Apex Infrastructure and Clean Air as well as FMK are the designated contractors in the project.

The 26MW to be delivered from the eight sites, the Vice President said would significantly augment the utility scale grid connected solar PV plants, being Mmadinare Solar PV cluster and Jwaneng 100MW Solar PV project, which His Excellency President Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi recently officiated its PPA signing ceremony.

“The small-scale and utility-scale grid-tied solar PV plants will collectively contribute 236MW to transition Botswana from approximately 98 per cent fossil-fuel-based generation to a more sustainable energy mix, including coal, gas, solar, and wind,” Mr Tsogwane said.

He highlighted that the acceleration of renewable energy was government’s core strategy, which aimed for significant contributions from renewable sources in the national energy mix by 2027 and an ambition to become a net exporter of electricity.

The Vice President said the grid-tied solar PV plants were part of  projects to be implemented under the Integrated Resource Plan, adding that “when commissioned in 2026, the projects would contribute 26MW of renewable energy and the associated renewable energy attributes to the new energy mix.”

In line with the global initiatives on climate change and global warming, Mr Tsogwane said the country intended to achieve an overall emissions reduction of 15 per cent by 2030, taking 2010 as the base year.

To achieve the objective, he said government decided to increase contribution of renewable energy in the energy mix from the current proportion of two per cent to 30 per cent by 2030.

“It is critical that as a country we play our role in achieving the international goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 Degrees Celsius, hence the importance of delivering the 26 MW from the eight grid-tied solar PV IPP projects,” added the Vice President.

Additionally, he said it was critical to protect Botswana’s export revenues in the international context where products with high carbon content faced increasing taxation, hence the need for BPC to supply renewable energy and its attributes to mining and industry.

Furthermore, Mr Tsogwane said Botswana was among countries with the highest irradiation levels in the world and therefore, imperative that the country fully exploited low-cost primary energy resource for the sustenance of the energy sector.

“The eight solar PV projects to be implemented by Batswana IPPs, is a landmark in our energy transition journey which is in line with our National Energy Policy whose aim is to contribute towards Sustainable Economic Development and a Sustainable Environment by ensuring optimal usage of our available primary energy resources,” he said,

Mr Tsogwane, therefore, expressed delight that the signing ceremony also marked a major stride in the country’s Citizen Economic Empowerment (CEE) efforts with Batswana contributing to the development of the energy sector as one of the most critical sectors of the country’s economy.

Vice President said government’s amendment of the Electricity Supply Act in 2007 had opened the sector for private participation, leading to notable advancements in power generation through long-term agreements with IPPs for both coal-fired and renewable solar energy.

Following the amendment of the act, he said there had been a significant development in power generation with BPC entering into long-term power purchase agreements with IPPs for the supply of base load coal fired generation and renewable energy from solar. ENDS