AfDB grants $1 million energy transition support to Botswana

The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), an African focused renewable energy finance fund managed by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a US$1 million grant to Botswana to facilitate its transition to clean energy. 

The technical assistance project supports the Government of Botswana in closing critical gaps in policy, regulatory and legal frameworks, which were identified at the Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP 2019). These include the introduction of least-cost planning, reduction of adverse environmental impacts and support for increased private sector participation in renewable energy (RE) generation investments.

Some of the notable outputs from the project include a national Grid Code, Electricity Cost of Service Study (CoSS) and licensing framework to regulate power sector activities. The outputs from the project will contribute towards the implementation of Botswana’s first Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), thus facilitating investments in new solar PV and wind generation capacity, amounting to at least 100MW and 50MW, respectively, by 2030.

Through its support for the further development of the renewable energy generation sector in Botswana, the project also contributes 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, the project will enable the two countries to export electricity to the rest of the region.

Conceptualised under SEFA’s Green Baseload component, the project will contribute to the development of essential building blocks to support Botswana’s energy transition, according to Dr. Daniel Schroth, Acting Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the African Development Bank. 

“It has been a long journey to access this AfDB grant facility,” observed Duncan Morotsi, Chief Operating Officer at the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA). “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 worthwhile pursuing this technical assistance from the AfDB.’’