19 May 2021

One Energy, a citizen owned company that trades in solar energy, has proposed to partner with Mabutsane Sub-district to use its Wind Farm plot in Kadue lands to establish and operate a solar power generation plant.     

Sub-district council chairperson, Mr Kgopolo Ramosesane, said this during opening of a sub-council forum on Tuesday. 

Mr Ramosesane indicated that One Energy had entered into a joint venture agreement with ENRC Botswana for development of the said power plant because the latter had electricity generation licenses for development, construction, operation and supply of energy from either coal fired, solar, hydrogen or methane gas sources. 

He said the proposal was to use the entire 1 600 hectare piece of land for the project through a rental partnership. 

“The project is anticipated to yield approximately 440 construction jobs over a 26 month period and it is also going to have community educational benefits of training on renewable energy as well as education and developing programmes to support renewable energy education in local high schools and elementary schools,” he said.

Mr Ramosesane said if agreed upon, the project was expected to create spin off industries such as farming, manufacturing and on site solar energy learning centre.

He said Mabutsane Sub-district has been receiving overwhelming submissions of partnership requests on its properties and that the sub-council had since taken a deliberate decision to prepare and float expressions of interest for all its properties that were ideal for partnerships.

Mr Ramosesane further indicated that the decision was taken to satisfy the procurement requirements and give any other citizen an equal opportunity to benefit from the partnership.

Concerning the development of a ranch at Kanaku, a remote area village for Basarwa in the outskirts of Mabutsane, Mr Ramosesane indicated that the project was progressing well and  the first phase that encompassed fencing was already complete while phase two, which entailed paddocking and construction of fire breaks was also about to be completed.

He said at the moment, phase three, which included water reticulation and farm accommodation, was ongoing while underground water survey was done in March and the process of engaging the driller was ongoing. ends