Tlou to complete 10MW project in 2023 third-quarter
Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday March 15, 2023 09:38
The 100km transmission line runs from Nyamakatse to Botswana Power Corporation’s (BPC) substation in Serowe. Commenting on the group’s half-year financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022, Managing Director Anthony Gilby said construction of the transmission line is being done by Zismo Engineering Pty Ltd (Zismo) with February end progress at approximately 50%.
“The company is working on bringing the Lesedi 10MW GTP project into production as quickly as possible and, subject to available funding, Tlou plans to rapidly expand to 25MW and beyond,” he said.
The first phase of the Lesedi project involves the drilling of six natural gas wells, the construction of the 100km transmission line to Serowe, the construction of substations, grid connections, and an electricity generator to produce two megawatts of electricity. Upon completion, the second phase of the project will involve ramping up production to 10MW of electricity with the drilling of more natural gas wells and the purchase of more electricity generation equipment.
The total cost of the project is estimated at the tune of P300 million of which Botswana Public Officers Pensions Fund has already loaned P50 million to fund the construction of phase one of the project.
Lesedi Power Project is a two-phase natural gas extraction initiative that would seek to allow the nation to be able to exploit the energy potential sitting in the Lesedi CBM fields to create greater energy production independence for Botswana. The project is anticipated to ease the government’s woes of depending on imported energy as this is the first local energy project.
The first electricity generated at the Lesedi project will be sold under a 10MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with BPC. Once in full production 10MW of generation could provide annual revenue equivalent to approximately $10m. “Substations are required at either end of the transmission line, one to tie Tlou’s generators to the transmission line at Lesedi and another to integrate the line with the existing BPC substation at Serowe.
This work will be completed by South African-based OptiPower, a division of Murray & Roberts Ltd. This work is expected to be completed around late 2023 or early 2024,” he said.