06 Oct 2024

Botswana has intensified efforts to make the country self-sufficient and energy secure through bridging the demand gap.

Ministry of Minerals and Energy’s chief public relations officer, Mr Neo Sealetsa told BOPA in an interview on Saturday that efforts were continually being made and remedial measures were in place to bridge the demand gap for the energy sector in the country.

 He said the continued remedial work at Morupule B to get to full capacity and the ongoing procurement of 600 megawatts (MW) Mmamabula Power Plant were testimony that government was commitment to making the country energy secure.

He said the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity aimed to secure 1 076MW of electricity, comprising 636MW of solar photovoltaic energy, 200MW of solar concentrating power, 140MW of battery energy storage and 100MW of wind-generated electricity.

To this end, he noted government was constructing several utility scale and small scale grid tied electricity projects across the country through Independent Power Producers (IPP).

Therefore, Mr Sealetsa said two of such small scale solar PV plants, producing a combined four MW were already in commercial operation.

In addition, he said the utility plant in Mmadinare was expected to supply its first 50MW by January 2025 and the remaining plants would be commissioned between the first quarter of 2025 to December 2027, noting that once these projects were complete, they would significantly close the demand gap.

Mr Sealetsa said the country’s peak demand currently stood at 650MW and was expected to increase by an average five per cent per annum.

Furthermore, he noted that the days of scheduled load shedding now formed part of Botswana’s history, citing that the last experienced were in 2015.

The ministry’s chief public officer said the country previously relied on electricity imports from the SADC Region, more especially South Africa.

He noted that as some power plants came into commercial operation during the last part of 2023, day-time power imports decreased.

He said from 2026, Botswana would be producing enough power for the local market and would be a net exporter of electricity, albeit with imports.

Mr Sealetsa said electricity generation in Botswana primarily relied on two coal power stations being Morupule A and B with 132MW and 600MW capacities respectively.

He said during the last quarter of 2023, two small-scale solar PV plants, namely the Bobonong and Shakawe solar PV plants came into commercial operation, producing three MW and one MW respectively.

“The progress we have made since the inception of the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) is among the best in the Region. We continue to extend our network to new villages as more villages are gazetted, as well as expand the network in villages already connected. Out of the 565 gazetted villages, we have connected 463. By October 2024, we will have electrified four more villages, translating to 82 per cent coverage,” he said.

According to 2024 World Bank reports, access to electricity in Botswana’s urban areas was at 95.5 per cent in 2022 while for rural areas it was at 58 per cent.

However, Mr Sealetsa said the rate of infrastructural development gave the ministry confidence that it would shoot up in the foreseeable future.

The National Energy Use Survey (NEUS) conducted in 2022/23 shows that at national level, 468 344 out of 634 076 households, which translates into 73.9 per cent of households connected to electricity.

In that regard, Mr Sealetsa said government aimed to achieve 100 per cent household access to electricity by 2030.

This target, he said, would be achieved through extension of electricity network to cover all areas of the country and providing free electricity connections to households.

“Our journey towards ensuring that every household has electricity gained further momentum in April 2024 with the downwards revision of the National Electricity Standard Connection Cost (NESC) from P2500 to zero thebe for households,” Mr Sealetsa said.

Moreover, he said government realised that not all households could afford the cost of wiring houses and therefore would still not benefit from the free electricity connection initiative.

For this reason, he said applicants who earned P2 400 or less and the unemployed were issued a Ready Box for free to enable them to have electricity in their homes even though the houses were not wired.

He said at present, the main source of electricity in Botswana was coal, adding that the Integrated Resource Plan ((IRP) for Electricity aimed to increase energy sources to include renewable ones such as gas, solar and wind power.

Mr Sealetsa expressed contentment that Botswana had enormous solar potential, receiving 3 200 hours of sunshine per annum with an average insolation or exposure to the sun’s rays on a flat surface of 21 Megajoules (MJ) which was among the best in the world.

In addition, he said some regions in Botswana received favourable wind speeds and density that presented big opportunities for harnessing wind power.

Mr Sealetsa said Botswana was taking advantage of these natural endowments and plans were underway to generate electricity from the resources.

He said government started implementation of the National Biogas Programme in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2017.

He said the programme capacitated households and institutions to produce biogas from agricultural waste to achieve Government’s objectives of improving the security of supply of energy, increasing access to affordable modern energy, diversifying the country’s energy sources to include renewable energy sources and fulfilling the international commitment of contributing to the global response to climate change.

Since 2019 to date, Mr Sealetsa said 179 masons (biogas digester builders) were trained and 269 biogas digesters were constructed. Ends