Botswana has been forced to look into alternative fuel sources – including renewable energy – after a recent strike in South Africa has put the southern African nation in the dark. The strike at South Africa’s Tarlton oil depot provided Botswana with more than 75% of its fuel requirement, according to the country’s Minerals, Energy, and Water Affairs Minister Pontashego Kedikilwe.
Botswana is currently seeking alternative routes, mainly from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, to reduce the dependency on the single supply route through South Africa. The Ministry hopes to reach 60 days equivalent of national consumption in a month.
Officials from Mozambique and Botswana recently met in order to discuss the proposed oil transmission lines; however, the main purpose was to advance the Inter-Governmental MoU between the two countries focusing on the energy sector. The Botswana Ministry also said in a release that the trip to Mozambique was to benchmark the National Oil Co. of Mozambique regarding alternative supply sources in order to reduce the reliance on a single source.
In April, Nairobi-based renewable energy expert Mark Hankins released a report showcasing the opportunities that Mozambique has for green energy. Mozambique is a significant contributor to the African biofuels sector with one company recently announcing the extraction of jatropha oil from its first yield only after 14 months from cultivation. Hankins highlights the enormous potential for green biomass with five large sugar farms that could contribute considerable bagasse from sugar cane waste to biomass fired electricity. Converting sugar waste into biofuel could put another 60 MW on the grid that could extend electrification to rural areas.
Botswana had begun putting forth efforts prior to the South Africa strike announcing in February plans to achieve 100% self-sufficiency in electricity generation by the end of its National Development Plan 10 (NDP 10) which began in April 2009 and ends March 2015. In order to reach this goal, renewable energy will be placed at the forefront of activities.
Botswana is currently conducting a feasibility study for a 200-MW solar thermal power station to combat the impact of load shedding. South Africa’s supplies to neighboring countries has been in flux since 2008, at which time Botswana developed a 70-MW emergency power supply in Matshelagabedi which started operating at the beginning of this year, while the development of a 90 MW emergency power supply in Orapa is expected in mid 2010.
The Energy and Environment Partnership in Southern and East Africa (EEP), aimed at solving the regional power shortage, was created in April. The country’s Deputy Permanent Secretary for Minerals, Energy, and Water Resources Boikobo Paya said the EEP will contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals which strive to increase access to sustainable energy services derived from renewable energy sources. He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and eight partners including Botswana, Austrian Development Cooperation, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa were launching the program in the region.
Relying solely on one fuel source and one country with a proven track record to be unreliable, southern African countries will need to focus more on their individual domestic energy supplies including reaching further into renewable energy.
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