Like the rest of the world, African nations are making progressive efforts to transition to renewable energy within the last decade.
While some countries in the region already have small-scale solar plants, wind, and geothermal devices in operation, others are steadily catching up.
Botswana, for instance, does not have large-scale solar power generation and its 600 MW national energy demand is met by state-owned coal-fired plants and imports, mostly from South Africa and Mozambique.
To address this, the Botswana energy regulator has approved a generation license for a 100MW solar plant to local firm Shumba Energy. This would make the company the first independent power producer (IPP) to set up a large-scale solar plant in Botswana.
Currently, the state-owned Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) is the only producer of electricity in the country.
Shumba Energy is set to execute the project in two phases with the construction of the first phase of 50 MW likely to begin within the next six months.
According to the company’s Managing Director, Mashale Phumaphi, the whole project is estimated to cost about $80 million.
He also revealed that the solar project had not signed any power off-take agreements but will operate as a merchant power producer feeding into the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
Botswana is a country that has 212 billion tonnes of coal reserves; as such, fossil fuel is expected to continue to dominate power generation in the country in the near future, analysts have predicted.
As one would expect, investors are concerned about the heavy reliance of African countries on coal-based power plants which emits millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere.
In keeping with the race to attain zero waste, Botswana hopes to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 18% by 2030.
Based on feasibility, a report shows that Botswana has some of the highest levels of direct normal (solar) irradiation (DNI) in the world. This means that the country receives sunlight at measure at over 3,000 kWh/m2 yearly.
