Botswana has become the latest recipient of support from the African Development Bank-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) after the continental financial institution this week approved a US$1 million grant to facilitate the country’s transition to clean energy.
AfDB said in a statement on Friday that the grant would be used to provide technical assistance to supports the government of Botswana “in closing critical gaps in policy, regulatory and legal frameworks.”
“These include the introduction of least-cost planning, reduction of adverse environmental impacts and support for increased private sector participation in renewable energy (RE) generation investments,” the bank said.
Some of the expected outputs from the project would include development of a national grid code and a licensing framework to regulate power sector activities, as well as the commissioning of an electricity cost of service study.
The outputs from the project are expected to contribute towards the implementation of Botswana’s first Integrated Resource Plan, which would facilitate investments in new solar photovoltaic and wind generation capacity amounting to at least 100 megawatts (MW) and 50MW, respectively, by 2030.
The AfDB grant is also expected to contribute to the Mega Solar initiative, launched in 2021 in collaboration with Namibia and development partners, with the aim of building renewable energy capacity in the two countries to enable electricity exports to the rest of the region.
JN/APA