Energy

Botswana has one of the highest solar irradiances in the world. Together with being very flat and having an abundance of available land, this makes solar energy a very worthy investment to pursue in Botswana. As a source of power to supplement the national grid or feed industry, solar has only recently started emerging, with government through its agencies mobilizing and/or approving several IPP projects, some as large as 300MW. Opportunities are rife in this sector including solar PV, CSP and solar thermal energy.

Natural gas energy is also in its infancy with two Australian companies having taken the pioneering role in developing gas resources and also supporting downstream industry development through various JVs and potential off take arrangements.

There has also been a recent growing interest in developing biomass energy in some of the identified agricultural zones where water is perennially available from natural water flows and mine dewatering systems.

Wind energy remains under research and some local, private blue chip companies have indicated their interest in teaming up with wind energy providers to conduct technical reliability assessments with a view to enter into a partnership should results present positively.

A special economic zone for energy has been established in the Central District of Botswana where the national power utility operates the country's main power plants.