Botswana to See Near Six-fold Growth in Power Generation

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--Government of Botswana-owned Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) (Gaborone, Botswana) is set to commission a 600-megawatt (MW) power station near Morupule Coal Mine area, around 280 kilometer (km) north of Gaborone, the capital city of the Central African nation. Slated for commissioning in April this year the power plant will increase the installed capacity of Botswana to 732 MW from current 132 MW.

The upcoming Morupule-B power station comprising of four coal-fired power generation units of 150 MW each is being developed adjacent to the existing 132 MW Morupule-A power station, which is Botswana's only operational power plant. Botswana currently meets only a part of its power demand from the Morupule Power Station, while it majorly depends on the electricity imported from the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

The existing power station at Morupule has four turbo-generators, each of which has an output of 33 MW. Construction of the power station began in 1982 and completed in 1989. The power plant meets its fuel requirement of 560-630 thousand-tons-per-annum from the adjoining Morupule Colliery.

Botswana Power Corporation is the state-owned power company formed in 1970 by an Act of the Parliament of Botswana. The company is responsible for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity within Botswana.

Botswana being rich in solar generation potential the Government of Botswana is currently carrying out studies to set up Solar Thermal-based power projects in the country. The feasibility of developing 200 MW solar thermal power capacity is currently being investigated by the state authorities.

The entire Southern African Development Community sub-region has been experiencing severe power shortages since the end of 2007 due to high growth and lagging investments in new power sources. Botswana is staring at a possible economic rollback following sharp cuts in electricity export by South Africa, which itself is under pressure to satisfy its growing domestic demand.

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