16 Nov 2016

The energy sector is overwhelmed by unreliability, high costs and pressure to use cleaner energy sources, Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Advocate Sadique Kebonang has said.

He was addressing Energy Pitso held under the theme: Biofuels Delivering Renewable and Sustainable Energy in Botswana.

The minister said there had been challenges such as shortfalls in the supporting legal, institutional, regulatory and financial frameworks to benefit from the available renewable energy resources.

Therefore, Advocate Kebonang noted that it was in this context that the ministry tabled the National Energy Policy during the July parliamentary sitting.

The policy had an overall goal to provide affordable, reliable and adequate supply of energy for sustainable development as well as to improve access and efficient use of energy resources.

He said, as a way of providing the necessary guidance to the energy sector, the ministry in collaboration with the World Bank was developing a renewable energy strategy that would provide a sound basis to spur investment in the renewable energy sector.

“It is also worth mentioning that my ministry has just been restructured, resulting in changing the name from Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources to Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security. With these new changes, more emphasis is put on green technology and energy security and this is in order to be aligned to international trends,” said Advocate Kebonang.

Furthermore, the minister said Botswana ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Some of the objectives of the UNFCCC included stabilising greenhouse gas concentration and allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change.

Botswana was also committed to the tenets of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative, which was a global initiative that mobilised stakeholders to take concrete action towards critical objectives by 2030 such as universal energy access, doubling share of renewables and doubling rate of energy efficiency.

Mr Kebonang also said Botswana, like the rest of the world, relied heavily on petroleum-based fuels to meet its energy needs.

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He, however, noted that although this reliance would continue well into the future, fluctuating oil prices, climate change issues and concerns about security of supply had presented biofuels as an attractive proposition.

The minister said biofuels offered the prospect of domestic energy generation and reliable, renewable and clean source of fuel.

Furthermore, Advocate Kebonang said government had in the past engaged in a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the contribution of biofuels in the total energy mix.

He said government in 2007 carried out a detailed feasibility study to assess the potential for the production and use of liquid biofuels for the transport sector.

Meanwhile, the objective of the Energy Pitso was to promote development of biofuels for the provision of cleaner and sustainable energy in Botswana. BOPA