Kalahari Becomes Preferred Bidder for Botswana Power Project

Kalahari Energy Botswana, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Sekaname, has been awarded preferred bidder status for the construction of a coalbed methane (CBM)-fuelled power plant project in Botswana, it said May 28.

The Botswana ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security notification follows from Kalahari’s submission in October 2018 to tender for the development of a maximum of 100 MW CBM fuelled power plants in Botswana as an Independent Power Producer. 

Sekaname submitted a bid for 97MW and its rival in the closed tender process – Tlou Energy – submitted a bid for 2MW scalable to 10MW over time. Tlou has also been awarded preferred bidder status.

Kalahari said that the award leads to negotiations with the procuring authority and provides for the design, procurement and construction of the first CBM-fuelled power plant in Botswana. “The project will have a significant impact on the economy of Botswana as it will provide a springboard from which to commercialise the significant CBM resources in Botswana whilst reducing the country’s carbon footprint,” it said. 

The Kalahari Energy power-generation facility will enter into a 30-year power purchase agreement with the Botswana Power Corporation; and the Botswana government will provide a credit-enhancement mechanism to make the project bankable.

The tender submission for the project included a CBM-fired power plant with a nameplate capacity of 110 MW (gas engines), a supporting gas-field extraction and processing facility to supply gas to the power plant and a 220 kV transmission line to evacuate the power to the Serule substation.