The move comes as government fast-tracks projects under the 20-year IRP in order to meet a target of having renewables contribute 30% to the country’s energy mix in the next seven years. Originally, the country had signed up to global climate change agreements with a target of 15% by 2030.
Minerals and Energy minister, Lefoko Moagi, confirmed the latest developments in a briefing with journalists on the sidelines of this week’s signing of a 300MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Jindal Africa. The Indian firm has been contracted to build a coal-fired power station and sell the power to the Botswana Power Corporation for over 30 years.
“Projects like the solar photovoltaic Phikwe and Jwaneng which were 50MW have been upgraded to 100MW each and the battery storage that was coming wack in 2027, has been brought forward to start now,” Moagi said. “We are already at the procurement stage for the 200MW concentrated solar plant.”
He added: “We have also brought forward the 100MW photovoltaic and 100MW wind that’s happening in Letlhakane as a hybrid version. “Solar photovoltaic is only reliable until sunset then you need the capacity to boost that, so we are going to be using wind to do that. “These are the sort of projects that we have pushed up in that space. “That will push our self-sufficiency.”
Under the original IRP launched in late 2020, the Phikwe and Jwaneng solar photovoltaic projects were to be 50MW each. An 18MW battery storage project was proposed from the year 2032, to be increased to 140MW by the year 2040.
The 100MW solar photovoltaic was scheduled to start operations in 2027, the same year as a 50MW wind project. The BPC has also been awarding a total of 35MW in small grid-tied solar plants to local investors.
In total, the original IRP envisaged 795MW of new independently produced power, with the investors entering into PPAs with the BPC. Of this total, only 310MW was committed by government as non-renewable.
Moagi made the revelations shortly after announcing that the 300MW coal-fired contract awarded to Jindal would be doubled to 600MW under the direct appointment method.
He stressed that bringing the renewable energy projects forward under the revised IRP would allow the country to attain electricity self-sufficiency sooner and export into the region, as work continues on domestic and regional transmission lines.
“What’s happening is that we have pushed everything to come right now. “Projects that were happening in 2027, in 2030, we are bringing them forward. “That will bring in the additional capacity faster than it was originally conceived. “By 2030, we had expected 15% of renewables contribution, but now we will be at 30% because we have brought these projects forward. “That will get us the sufficiency we need as a country and the net export advantage that we want to do. “Then it’s a question of just strengthening our transmission lines to make sure we can evacuate this power to neighbouring countries,” he said.
Moagi said doubling the coal procurement under the IRP would not negatively affect the country’s commitments to clean energy. He said the country was committed to adopting cleaner technologies in its fossil fuel projects, as demonstrated by the lower emissions coming out of the revamped Morupule A Power Station.
“Also, our coal itself, it’s less than one percent sulphur so it’s a much cleaner coal than the rest of the producers,” he said. “When you look at Sub-Saharan Africa, our emissions are 0.55 percent of the global emissions, so really when we talk about emissions, we don’t really have that much. “But being alive to what’s happening in the world in terms of climate change and global warming, we are looking into those things to make sure our emissions are minimised through the use of clean technologies.”
