The mega solar project will be Southern Africa’s largest solar power project and the first of its kind on the continent, involving collaboration between two countries and multiple continental and international agencies and partners.
Botswana, Namibia, the African Development Bank (AfDB), as well as the International Finance Corporation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, signed a Memorandum of Intent towards the project in April 2021. The deal is underpinned by Power Africa, a US government entity aimed at boosting electricity investment in Africa and has also received public endorsement by President Joe Biden.
The AfDB funded the market study through a $7.88 million grant (P107 million).
Minerals and Energy deputy permanent secretary, Nchena Mothebe, told BusinessWeek the market study was key to advancing the project.
“At that time when the project was initiated, there was no market study or feasibility study,” he said. “The market study will then tell us where the market is for this power if we were to produce it, how much we produce and the structure of the Independent Power Producer, how we are going to produce, and also how we are going to evacuate power from those plants.”
He added: “The market study will address particular areas where these projects will be done, but they will be across the two countries. Then the power will be exported to where we believe there’s a deficit.”
Mothebe said while the solar projects will run across Botswana and Namibia and be built in a scaled-up manner, the market study will determine where the generated power will be directed.
“There is very little consumption of power in Botswana and Namibia, so we are looking at the whole Southern African region, all the way from the DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa and so forth,” he said.
According to the AfDB, the first phase of the mega solar initiative centres on the competitive procurement of 300 to 500 megawatts of solar power in Namibia and Botswana. Once regional transmission lines are constructed, this will catalyse the procurement of additional generation that can supply low-cost renewable energy to neighbouring countries.
It is estimated that the mega-solar project at its 5,000MW peak can create and sustain thousands of jobs directly and indirectly while averting an estimated 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of taking 1.5 million cars off the roads.
