US Funds Botswana Gas-to-Power Project Feasibility Study

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to Kalahari Energy Botswana for a feasibility study of a power plant that will generate power using indigenous coalbed methane (CBM), USTDA said on March 17 without disclosing financial details.

Kalahari has selected the US company Advanced Resources International to conduct the study. The project, located in the Karoo Basin, includes a CBM-fired power plant with a nameplate capacity of 110 MW powered by 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.

“The project will bring critically important additional power to Botswana’s electrical grid and 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,” Kalahari said in a separate statement published March 18.

Kalahari has contracted South African Prana Energy to develop the project from the inception stage through to financial close. Last year, Kalahari, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Sekaname, was awarded preferred bidder status for the project.