GABORONE: Botswana is looking to add up to 820MW of power into the national grid from both coal and solar powered plants by 2020, leaving it a surplus for exports, Minerals and Energy Minister Kitso Mokaila said on Tuesday.
Independent power producers were expected to develop two 300MW stations while refurbishment of a 120MW coal-fuelled power plant was expected to be complete by end of 2017, Mokaila told a mining conference.
A tender for a 100MW solar power station was also expected to be out soon, with the plant due to be running by 2018.
"In four years time we see ourselves as not only self sufficient but we hope to have extra capacity to be exporting into the region," Mokaila said.
Earlier this year, Botswana awarded a tender for a 300MW power plant to a joint venture between South Korea's Posco and Japan's Marubeni.
The southern African country also intends to order a 300 MW power plant from a joint venture between South Korea's Daewoo and Kepco.
Mokaila said the government would put out a 100MW solar power tender in the next two months, aiming to have it in operation by 2018.
Botswana's current power demand stands at an average 600MW. Its sole power station, Morupule B, produces about half of that, with the remainder coming from imports and diesel generators.
Since it was commissioned in 2012, the Chinese-built 600mw Morupule B power plant has not produced at full capacity due to boiler failures and tube leaks.
"We are also refurbishing Morupule B and negotiations to sell it and have it operate as an independent power producer have begun," said Mokaila.
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