19 Nov 2019

Government is currently reviewing and developing appropriate regulations to create an enabling environment for wealth creation in the energy sector.

This was revealed by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in his State-of-the-Nation Address on November 18.

The President explained that government was committed to undertaking organisational reforms to align its mandate to promote economic inclusion and green technology.

He said the government was reviewing the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) Act and draft regulations, the draft Petroleum Products Bill as well as the Gas Bill to regulate and facilitate the private sector.

“The coming into operation of such an act will provide for the manufacturing, supply, storage, distribution retail and use of the petroleum products,” he said adding that the act would also facilitate the operation of Botswana Oil Limited.

The existence of the act will provide for the development and operation of upstream and downstream activities such as exploration, production, supply, storage, distribution, retail and the use of gas products.

President Masisi said BERA continued to monitor the activities, conduct and compliance of industry players to ensure that there was an increased economic contribution in the trading of petroleum products.

He said as a result of the effective monitoring the regulator had confiscated about 310 000 litres of fuel worth P2.9 million.

He said to further ensure the national security of fuel supply government was developing additional strategic fuel storage facilities through Botswana Oil Limited (BOL).

“These are 186 million litres Tshele Hills storage to be implemented through a public-private partnership. The project is at the inception stage and will pave way for the procurement of the developer,” he added

He said in promoting access to petroleum products in remote areas which were traditionally not serviced by the International Oil Companies (IOCs), Botswana Oil was working on introducing Remote Area Energy Centres (RAECs) which were effectively small containerised mobile filling stations that were aimed at promoting access to petroleum products in remote areas.

Dr Masisi said the solar energy was going to be promoted vigorously so that it becomes a significant contributor to the energy sector.

He said the government was developing Solar Guidelines to enable Batswana to generate electricity for their own use while selling the excess to the Botswana Power Corporation up to a limit that would be defined by the regulator.

“These guidelines are envisaged to be completed by the end of this financial year. This will help to diversify power generation away from dependence on the thermal generation and further economically empower Batswana,” he said.

Dr Masisi said the main power infrastructure development projects being undertaken by government through the BPC included the refurbishment of Morupule A, a 132-Megawatt (MW) power station, Morupule B, a 600MW power station, defects remediation, extension, reinforcement and refurbishment of the transmission and distribution network as a well as electrification of villages.

“Significant progress is being made to achieve self-sufficiency in power generation with the return to sieves of Morupule A power station before the end of this financial year.

The Morupule B defects remediation project which is meant to address the ensuing plant performance challenges is now at the implementation stage with the remedial works having commenced on the first unit in June 2019,” he noted.

Dr Masisi said all construction and equipment defects which were impacting on the Morupule B plant viability should be addressed in the next four years.

He said the plant would, therefore, be expected to operate reliably, generating 600MW of power.

He added that a study to determine future generation requirements beyond 2024 was underway and was expected to be completed before the end of this financial year.

He said the North West Transmission Grid extension project was at an advanced stage with the grid switch-on scheduled for the end of March 2020. He said the project would stimulate mining activities in the North West region.

“Another initiative being the Rural Electrification Project is currently ongoing. As at October 2019, 60 villages have been completed from the planned 115 villages.

The ongoing electrification of villages provides access to clean energy to rural communities which is fundamental for socio-economic development and poverty eradication,” he said. Ends