Botswana Electrification Plan By Charles Mangwiro

Botswana Electrification Plan By Charles Mangwiro
in PDF
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/economic_growth_and_trade/energy/publications/success_stories/safrica_media.pdf

GABORONE -- Botswana Power Corporation, BPC, has embarked on an ambitious plan to electrify more than 400 villages by 2009 as part of its effort to reduce deforestation.
Rural Division Manager Alban Motsepe said the plan includes the installation of alternative energy sources such as solar panels in the scarcely populated villages across the county.
"We want our people to have modern energy at least by 2009," Motsepe told a group of journalists attending an Energy and Development Workshop for Southern African media in the capital Gaborone. The weeklong workshop was organized by the International Institute for Education, Washington, D.C., and sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Media Institute of Southern Africa Botswana office, and the University of Botswana Media Studies Department.
BPC is a parastatal body formed by the government to expand and develop power potential in the country. The government-sponsored rural electrification program has covered 233 villages since 1991. The initial plan has been reshaped to cater to the needs of lower income households, Motsepe said. "We have opted to use both the power solutions, the power grid and solar," he said. The government has set aside some P8 million for the initial phase of the solar energy project rural scheme in the form of a revolving loan fund. Solar powered home in Manyana, Botswana.
Local economic observers say the move is important as attaining reliable, affordable energy is one of the major challenges for rural populations. Energy consultant Peter Zhou said the wider provision of electricity would help alleviate poverty through the increased access to commercial and modern technologies including renewable energies.
"This reduces the burden of women who are traditionally subjected to walk long distances in search of firewood," he said.
A member of the recently established Gender and Energy Network in Gaborone, Nozipho Ditlhale, said African women are major decision makers when it comes to cooking and using fuels, therefore, the time used in walking long distances and searching for wood could be used in generating income. "If they have energy, they could sell cool drinks in tuck shops," she said. The Botswana government funded a pilot project to install solar energy units in households in Manyana, a village about 48 kilometers south of Gaborone. Gerrit Jacobs, president of Solar International Botswana, said the project has not proven its economic viability because the
government did not provide for proper maintenance of the units. "They moved in and installed PVs but people were not properly taught how to maintain them so they became inoperational after a short while," he said. "This plan was drafted only for installation and there are no methods for people to maintain the system and buy batteries. It’s not economical and this is just a failure."
Manyana residents are gradually abandoning the solar units and are attaching to the power grid. A local school abandoned the solar-generated energy some four years ago and connected the power grid before opting for the use of wood and mineral coal to reduce energy costs.
Dorcus Selohilhe says the school has introduced night studies for distance education and the solar system just couldn’t cope. "We are happy with the power grids because we failed to maintain the solar due to technical capacity," she said.
Botswana, which is democratically ruled and known as the largest exporter of beef and gemstone diamonds in the world, is in southern Africa, nestled between South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,6m people and has some Africa’s last great wildness including the famous Okavango swamps and the Kalahari Desert.