The US $4bn coal bed methane fueled power plant in Botswana is set to be operational by 2025.This is according to Mineral Resources Minister Lefoko Maxwell Moagi who said the methane plant is also expected to come onstream by 2022
The project is government’s initiative geared towards facilitating development of gas industry in Botswana. Coal bed methane is a clean energy source capable of earning the country carbon credits and positively improve the country’s energy mix.
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Methane fueled power plant
Sekaname and Tlou Energy won the bid for the project by the Public Procurement Disposal Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) and the government has held preliminary discussions with Sasol Ltd. for the refinery project and expects to finalize power purchase deals this year for the pilot power plan
The project will see construction of CBM-fired power plants up to a maximum of 100MW with the staged development starting with up to 10MW of power generation to facilitate the success of the downstream project by requiring relatively minimal upfront capital expenditure, thus reducing risk.
Botswana has a significant energy shortage and generally relies on imported power and diesel generation to fulfill its power requirements.It hosts 212 billion tonnes of coal resources,
“The effort put in by our team over recent years has been phenomenal and this result makes it all worthwhile. The company will now progress with additional work on the ground to deliver a gas‐to‐power solution that can bring significant benefits to the country and to our shareholders,” said Tlou managing director, Tony Gilby.