Africa-Press – Botswana. Government has decided to increase the contribution of renewable energy from the current two per cent to 30 per cent by 2030.
This was revealed by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi when officiating at the ground breaking ceremony for the100MW Mmadinare PV solar cluster project on Friday.
He said the Mmadinare solar cluster project was a major milestone towards realising the country’s commitment on climate change and global warming. He noted that the global target was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent by 2030 with reference to 2010 emission levels. “This is our voluntary national contribution which Botswana made during COP 21 in 2015,” he said.
President Dr Masisi said it was imperative that the country played its role in limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius. He said current projections suggested that there was a more than 50 per cent chance that global warming would reach or surpass the 1.5 degrees celsius between 2021and 2040.
He called for bold and transformational action as per the national statement during COP28.
On strides made towards transitioning from coal fired electricity to renewable energy, President Masisi said the Mmadinare solar cluster would provide 100MW of solar power by mid-2025.
He said the second utility scale-grid connected solar plant would be located in Jwaneng and would provide an additional 100MW of solar generation in the first quarter of 2026.
He noted that the Ministry of Minerals and Energy was procuring developers for the 200MW solar plant to be constructed in Maun and a 100MW solar plant in Letlhakane. He said the two projects were expected to be in operation by end of 2026.
Adding to the projects, President Masisi said there were 12 small-scale grid-tied solar projects with an aggregate capacity of 36MW that had been procured by Botswana Power Corporation. He said two were already in commercial operation while the remainder were expected to be in operation by the end of 2026.
President Masisi said the rooftop solar programme launched in June 2020 by the Ministry of Minerals and Energy facilitated the installation of ground or roof mounted solar PV systems for electricity generation for own consumption while selling the surplus to BPC.
To date, he said, 31MW had been awarded to domestic and industrial customers under the programme. President Masisi also said the village electrification intervention was aimed at accelerating access to electricity by households through the adjustment of the national electricity standard connection fee from P5 000 and P2 500 to zero. He said free electricity connection for households was expected to increase demand from domestic customers.
President Masisi also said in line with worldwide trends, the mining and industry sectors needed to decarbonise their operations for sustainability, adding that the demand for renewable energy was set to rise significantly in the next few years.
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