Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has invited bids for setting up three solar PV power projects across the country. According to the tender guidelines, the scope of work under the project includes development, financing, construction, operations, and maintenance of the solar PV projects.
The location for two of the projects is planned to be in Ghanzi, in the middle of the Kalahari Desert in western Botswana, and Lobatse, in the southeastern part of the country. The other project will be situated at Maun, a town on the Thamalakane River in northern Botswana.
The company has neither announced any information regarding the capacity of the solar plants individually or collectively, nor has it disclosed the technical specifications for their development. The bid submission deadline is September 15, 2023.
In May 2021, The African Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed a memorandum of intent to begin talks for financing the Botswana-Namibia mega solar project. The memorandum of intent was expected to support the pre-feasibility and related studies required to develop the project. The two countries had partnered with the US-led Power Africa to develop this project. The project was expected to see installations being built across both countries and the power produced to be exported to the southern African region.
