Botswana is betting on the desert sun: $100 million opens the door to exporting electricity to Africa.
Amnia Hassan
Botswana is taking a strategic step towards strengthening its energy security and consolidating its position in the African electricity market, after successfully securing $100 million in financing to build the country’s first utility-scale solar power plant, in a project seen as a turning point in the national energy sector.
A historic 100 MW project
The project is called “Tati Solar Energy”, has a production capacity of 100 megawatts, and is being developed by the companies “Etafi Renewable Energy” and ”Shumba Energy”.
Commercial operation of the plant is scheduled to begin in 2027, making it the first large-scale solar facility in Botswana.
South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank took on the task of arranging the entire financing package, reflecting the confidence of financial institutions in the country’s renewable energy future.
Gateway to a huge regional market
The project's importance will not be limited to meeting local needs, but it will also sell its electricity production to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), one of the largest electricity trading markets on the continent, serving about 360 million people in 12 African countries.
This market is an advanced platform for cross-border energy exchange and has promising opportunities to accommodate more solar and wind energy projects, given the increasing regional demand for electricity.
Reducing dependence on imports
This move comes at a time when Botswana is facing increasing challenges in the energy sector, as a result of aging local coal-fired power plants and declining electricity imports from neighboring countries, most notably South Africa.
Through the “Tati” project, the government seeks to diversify generation sources and reduce dependence on imported electricity, while paving the way for the country to transform from an energy importer to an energy exporter in the future.
A new test of investor confidence
The project represents a different model from many renewable energy projects in Africa, as it relies on selling electricity directly in the regional market instead of depending on a single government utility company.
Energy experts believe that the success of the project will boost investor confidence in commercial renewable energy projects on the continent, and open the door to new investments in light of the growing demand for electricity due to population growth and industrial and technological expansion in Africa.
