Botswana Receives $1Million For Clean Energy Transition
Story by: Magdalene Duncan
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa(SEFA), a multi-donor special fund managed by the African Development Bank has approved a $1 million grant to facilitate Botswana’s transition to clean energy.
This technical assistance project will support the government of Botswana in closing critical gaps in policy, regulatory and legal framework, identified at the Africa Energy Market Place(AEMP,2019).
It includes the introduction of least-cost planning, reduction of adverse environmental impacts and support for increased private sector participation in Renewable Energy (RE) generation investments.
Dr Daniel Schroth, Acting Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the African Development Bank, was of the view that, the project conceptualized under SEFA’s Green Baseload component will ” contribute to the development of essential building blocks to support Botswana’s energy transition”.
Some notable outputs from the project include a National Grid Code, Electricity Cost of Service Study (COSS) and licencing framework to regulate power sector activities.
The outputs from the projects will contribute towards the implementation of Botswana’s first integrated Resource Plan(IRP), hence facilitating investments in new solar PV and wind generation capacity amounting to at least 100MV and 50MV, respectively, by 2030.
In line with it’s support for further development of Renewable Energy generation sector in Botswana, the project will also contribute to the mega solar initiative launched in 2021 in collaboration with Namibia and development partners, with the aim of building renewable energy capacity in the two countries to enable electricity exports to the rest of the region.
“It has been a long journey to access this AfDB grant facility, ” Mr Duncan Morotsi, Chief Operating Officer at the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA), noted. Also that, ” the approval is a great step forward in the regulator’s quest to facilitate Independent Power Producers(IPPs), renewable energy sources and cost reflective tariffs in Botswana. It was worth while pursuing this technical assistance from the AfDB”.
SEFA a multi-donor special fund managed by the African Development Bank provides catalytic finance to unlock private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. SEFA offers technical assistance and concessional finance instruments to remove market barriers, build a more robust pipeline of projects and improve the risk -return profile of individual investments. The fund’s ultimate goal is to contribute to universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services for all in Africa, in line with the New Deal of Energy for Africa and Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Established in 2011 in partnership with the government of Denmark, SEFA has since received contributions from the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Nordic Development Fund and Germany.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
