Botswana doubles planned capacity of power plant to be built by India's Jindal

Botswana has doubled to 600 megawatts (MW) the planned capacity of a coal-fired power plant to be built in the country by India's Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, it said on Tuesday, as it seeks to boost both energy security and exports. The country is hoping to supply power across the Southern African region, which is struggling with a crippling power deficit, its minister of minerals and energy said on Tuesday.

Botswana picked Jindal in November from three short-listed bidders to build its planned 300MW coal-fired power plant, which is expected to go into production by 2028. "We recently got approval from the cabinet to add another 300 MW to this greenfield project, taking it to 600 MW," Lefoko Moagi said at the signing of an initial power purchase agreement for the plant.

"This will come in handy to address the power deficit in the region, as we do not only seek to become self reliant, but also be a net exporter of electricity." Under the original deal, Jindal agreed to spend $1 billion to build a 4.5 million tonne per annum coal mine and the power plant, recouping its investments from selling electricity to the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) over a 30-year period.

"Our plan is to finish this project by 2026 instead of the agreed 2028," Jindal Steel and Power's Chairman Naveen Jindal said at the signing ceremony. "There is no reason why Botswana, with all its coal resources, cannot supply the whole region and address the shortages in South Africa. We should explore the possibilities of going beyond the 600MW plant."

No time frames and costs have been given for the additional 300MW. Botswana has more than 200 billion tonnes of coal resources and despite recent pressure to cut coal use due to climate change, the diamond-dependent country is pressing ahead with monetising those resources for economic development.

Its energy demand is expected to rise from 600 MW currently to around 800 MW by 2028, while its power supply is forecast to grow from just over 500 MW to more than 1,000 MW. Under a 20-year plan approved in 2020, Botswana was planning to add more than 600 MW of solar and coal-fired power by 2026, but Moagi said the plan has been revised to add more plants. He did not give timeframes.

Botswana's power generation is expected to remain dominated by the fossil fuel in the near future, although it has a target of generating at least 30% of national production from renewables by 2030.

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