08 Nov 2021

Government has met only 60 per cent of the national electricity demand from domestic generation while the remaining 40 per cent is imported from the Southern African Power Pool. 

This was revealed by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in a State-of -the -Nation- Address on Monday. President Masisi indicated that to address power deficit, remediation of Morupule B Power Station was ongoing and expected to meet the demand of 600 Mega Watts by 2024.

 In addition, he said the first phase of the North West Transmission Grid Connection which was launched early this year was completed on time and within the allocated budget of over P2.3 billion. The grid, he said would expand electrification of the Okavango area and reduce dependency on neighbouring countries.

 “Once Mohembo Bridge is complete, the grid will provide power supply to villages beyond the Okavango River,” he added. 

He also said the construction of Phase 2 of the project, which would commence in the next financial year, would connect Kasane to Phokoje sub-station in Selebi Phikwe through Dukwi. 

He added that the construction would further advance the development of the agricultural special economic zone in the Pandamatenga area.

 “It will also support government’s priority project of water pumping from the Zambezi River to other parts of the country.” 

The President also said since 2019, significant progress had been made in the development of a sustainable new energy mix, which comprised renewable energy sources and low carbon power generation sources, in addition to clean coal based generation. 

He further said private sector investors had been identified for the development of a 50 Megawatts grid scale solar Photovoltaic (PV) plant in Selebi Phikwe and six grid tied solar PV plants in Shakawe, Bobonong, Lobatse, Molepolole, Maun and Ghanzi, with a combined capacity of 16 Megawatts. 

Again, he indicated that the planned clean energy initiatives included the development of Coal Bed Methane and wind based generation power plants. 

“In November 2020, government launched the Solar Rooftop programme, which allows customers to self-generate electricity through solar PV for own consumption and selling excess to the national grid and to date, the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has approved 57 applications,” he said.He added that 21 applications were for commercial purposes, while 36 were for household use, both producing about 2000 kilowatts. ENDS