Four units back on stream at Morupule B
Brian Benza | Wednesday June 10, 2015 15:11
Speaking at the Capital Resource sector conference in Gaborone yesterday, Minister of Minerals Energy and Water Resources Kitso Mokaila said the problematic boilers at the Chinese-built power station would constantly undergo repairs over the next 10 months to attain short-term reliable supply.
“I can guarantee you that for the next two days that you will be in Botswana, there would be no load shedding as all our four units are running,” he told local and international delegates who numbered over 300.
The minister, however, did not elaborate on how many megawatts the four units were generating.
Two weeks ago, Mokaila told the media that only two units were operational, producing 240MW, at the power station.
The Chinese-built power station has been plagued by constant boiler failures, which have resulted in the power utility implementing a demand side management programme, which limits households and small businesses to a maximum consumption of 10amps during peak periods.
As part of the short to medium term measures to plug the power shortages, which Mokaila admitted had adversely affected the mining industry’s operations, the minister said government planned to refurbish the Morupule A power station, which is currently under care and maintenance, with the aim to produce at least 90MW by winter next year.
“We expect at least three of the 33MW units to be up and running by winter next year at Morupule A.
“We are also investigating an option to expand that power station by a further 150MW by 2018,”he said.
Looking ahead, Mokaila said government is targeting to be electricity self-sufficient by 2019 with two 300MW planned to come on stream by 2018 and 2020.
The Morupule B will be extended by a 300MW while another 300MW will be built at a Greenfield location.
The on-going power and water shortages, Mokaila conceded, would along with the depressed commodity prices, affect the operations of the mining industry.
Government has deferred royalty payments for the struggling copper miners, as part of efforts to save jobs in the mining industry, which has been hit hard by weak international commodity prices.
Mokaila said all but one of the country’s base metal producers have been exempted from paying royalties for up to a year.
Base metals mining in Botswana attracts a three percent royalty payable on gross market value of mined production.
Local copper miners have been hard hit by the weak international copper prices as well as low ore recovery rates due to unviable stripping ratios.
Over 800 jobs were lost early this year at Discovery’s Boseto Mine when the company was under provisional liquidation.
It (Discovery) failed to meet its financial obligations amounting to over $149 million (P1.46 billion) to various creditors.
African Copper recently also announced plans to close its Thakadu Mine due to viability concerns affecting hundreds of workers.