Power Africa in Botswana

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Power Africa has supported the development of electricity generation projects in Botswana. In addition, various firms have received U.S. Embassy support to move transactions forward. The page below gives an overview of the energy sector in Botswana and explains Power Africa's involvement in the country.

Participants standing between solar panels at the launch of the Rooftop Solar program in Botswana
Launch of the Rooftop Solar (RTS) program in Botswana. Power Africa support this program that will enable electricity consumers in Botswana to self-generate electricity via rooftop solar PV systems of up to 1 MW (35 kW for residential consumers and up to 1 MW for Commercial & Industrial) and sell any excess power generated to the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC).
U.S. Embassy Gaborone, Botswana

BOTSWANA ENERGY SECTOR OVERVIEW

Population: 2.25 million | GDP (1): $18.61 billion

Botswana currently generates the bulk of its power from coal, and sits on large coal reserves of around 200 billion tons. Botswana also has coal bed methane reserves of 0.15-3.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) at the Lesedi field. The country also has significant solar potential, with 3,200 hours of sunshine per year, and irradiance of 6,640 Wh/m2/day. Only a portion (450 MW) of installed capacity is available to produce power, and additional demand is met through electricity imports, primarily from South Africa.

GENERATION CAPACITY

  • Installed Capacity (2): 993 MW
    • Gas: 10%
    • Coal: 80%
    • Other thermal: 10%

Power Africa new MW to date at financial close: 0 MW

CONNECTIONS

  • Current Access Rate (3): 56%
    • Urban: 77%
    • Rural: 37%

Power Africa new connections: 2,766

 

 

POWER AFRICA SUCCESS STORIES IN BOTSWANA

Major Milestone Agreement Reached for Mega Solar in Southern Africa


Two men washing solar panels
Once operationalized, Mega Solar is expected to generate thousands of jobs.
Power Africa

Mega Solar is a partnership between Power Africa and the Governments of the Republic of Botswana and Namibia, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and the African Development Bank to support the development of Southern Africa’s largest solar-generation project, which is estimated to result in 2–5 gigawatts of solar power.

READ MORE on our blog

Sources

  1. https://data.worldbank.org/country/botswana 
  2. https://www.africa-energy.com/database/datatool
  3. https://www.se4all-africa.org/seforall-in-africa/country-data/botswana/#:~:text=At%20a%20glance,clean%20cooking%20solutions%20at%2064%25

Last updated: November 18, 2021

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