25 Feb 2015

A private power supply company will build two power units within the Morupule Power establishment to produce electricity for supply to Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), a Morupule Coal Mine official has announced.

When giving an update on electricity during the Serowe Administration Authority sub-council meeting on February 25, Morupule Coal Mine employee relations manager, Mr Letsibogo Ndwapi, said the plant was expected to be tested in 2017, after the full operation of the opencast mine they were transforming into had been achieved.

The two units were expected to augment the four Morupule plant units, which had been experiencing production challenges and they were expected to add into the 600 megawatts produced by the current four units so there could be excess in 2019.

According to the officer, the four units are capable of producing 600mega watts of electricity when in full operation, provided they operate non-stop. However, he revealed that the demand for electricity was higher than supply even when the four units operated at full swing.

He warned that failure to produce enough electricity to meet demands could therefore lead to some businesses closing shop while simultaneously affecting implementation of some projects.

In the meantime, Orapa power plant and the one in Matshelagabedi will be used to ameliorate the power crisis even though the former plant can operate for about 4 hours daily. The employee relations manager pointed out that Botswana will receive about 100 megawatts from Eskom, South Africa when the latter has excess to export. 

Meanwhile, Mr Ndwapi informed councilors that they were in consultations with communities regarding the development since some fields will have to pave way for the earmarked development.  He also informed the community leaders that they will be rehabilitated so that the land could be re-used in future. ENDS