Two of these projects are under construction; three are at a financing stage while the other one is at a PPA signing stage. Speaking at the Tlou Energy groundbreaking ceremony recently, Kgoboko said a further 69MW from eight solar PV projects is under procurement.
He further said solar PV technology without battery storage can only produce electricity during the day in the sun. “This intermittency of solar power generation has to be augmented with other sources of generation which can be dispatched at any time of the day and are not weather dependent.
A gas-fired power station such as Tlou Energy’s provides a perfect hybrid with the solar PV projects which has limited operating time,” Kgoboko said. One of BPC’s emergency power generation facilities is the Orapa 90MW turbine power plant.
This plant has dual fuel capacity, meaning it can run on either liquid fuel or gas. Meanwhile, BPC launched a new strategy which focuses on delivering results aimed at ensuring the corporation achieves its vision of being a regional landmark in electricity supply. "Some of the key priority areas espoused in the five-year Maduo26 strategy are to achieve zero harm, attain financial sustainability, improve employee experience, asset management, and project management and generate excess power for us to become a net exporter of power for the region," he said.
He added that these focus areas will be realized through undertaking predictive maintenance, effective execution of projects, and digitalization of processes "thus creating a high-performance culture that will ultimately make BPC a regional benchmark". Implementation of the Maduo26 strategy started last year, soon after board approval.
