17 Sep 2015

Inadequate clean energy supply affects all sectors of the economy such as education, industry, education delivery and general standard of living. This was said by chairperson of Botswana University of Science and Technology (BIUST) Mr Bernard Bolele.   

“We must appreciate the challenges posed by energy provision and address them openly and pragmatically and address issues of planning, policies and strategies and awareness and cultural matters,” he said.              

Mr Bolele said Minerals and energy resources ministry was tasked with provision of energy and water services throughout the country with the national demand for electricity increasing rapidly because of the steady industrial and commercial development, population growth and rural-urban migration which requires provision of electricity to meet the current demand.            

Mr Bolele told the international delegates that the current demand for electricity in Botswana was estimated at 681 mega watts (MW) with an installed generating capacity of 892MW. 

Of that 132MW from Morupule A was still under care and maintenance and would be available by the end of 2017, he stated.            

The current available capacity was estimated at 460MW of which 300MW was generated from Morupule B, 90MW and 70MW from Orapa Power Plant and Matshelagabedi Alston Power Rentals plants respectively, he added. 

Mr Bolele said it was unfortunate that the local power production was insufficient to meet national demands, and as such government was highly promoting the use of renewable energy especially solar to increase its share in the energy mix.            

He stated that Botswana Power Corporation with the aid of Japan has installed a 1.3MW grid connected to photovoltaic power plant at Phakalane and other developments include the expression of interest to build two 50MW plants which have seen a huge response.            

Apart from the said energy sources, he said, “we are aggressively pursuing the use of bio-fuels and other renewable energy technologies.” 

He said the education programmes on clean energy must not only be confined to technical colleges to produce artisans, technicians but must also be offered at both undergraduate and post graduate levels  and that it must be a research theme as there were many unearthed areas in the discipline.

Further, he said appropriate adoption of clean energy can make industries respond positively to the challenges of increased competition, service delivery and national development. 

Mr Bolele said he was hopeful that the three- day conference would produce a booklet of recommendations on trends in the clean energy practices and said BIUST must be commended for keeping the mandate, direction and aspirations presented by the nation which expects innovation, creativity and research from it.

Meantime BIUST acting vice chancellor Professor John Cooke said the university was one of the new type of specialist African university whose major role was a catalyst for economic development through knowledge production which move along innovation value chain to the development of research ideas through incubation. 

Prof Cooke said the ability of the university to have research impact both nationally and globally depends on the strength of partnerships it establishes with other universities and research institutions and has developed linkages with various institutions in the SADC and rest of Africa and internationally.

He said in the energy field BIUST was a member of consortium of five partner institutions from Botswana, Germany, Namibia and Zambia building a Network of Excellence in Renewable Energy Technologies for Development (NEED). 

The NEED programme which was funded by European Union he said was intended to enhance adoption of renewable technologies in the target countries and subsequently in the whole of Southern Africa. 

Prof Cooke said the conference came at an opportune time for BIUST and its growing research and development commitment to clean energy production systems. Ends