Pre-2008 , approximately 70.00 % of Botswana’s power requirement was imported from her neighbouring countries , with the bulk of it coming from the South African giant , ESKOM . To mitigate this anomaly , in 2008 the Botswana Government approved the construction commencement of a new 600MW thermal power plant , the Morupule “ B “ Power Station , at an estimated cost of P11b ( Eleven Billion Botswana Pula ) .
The plant was to be commissioned in 2012 . However , after encountering numerous problems in its design and construction , it only came into operation two years later , in 2014 ....limping . I use the word limping here , because that’s what it was ... a limping new power station . Although it was commissioned in that year , it could not provide the 600MW of power anxiously expected , due to numerous technical problems ....imagine that : a “ brand new power station “ ...!
As a result , the poor country was plunged into a series of serious Load Shedding from 2012 to 2015 . This book highlights the peak of the load shedding occurrences in the year 2015 .
However , in 2019 the problems that have haunted the smooth operation of the Morupule B Power Station still exist , although ........Now in 2019 , the Morupule B Power Station is to be overhauled by its original contractors , the China National Electric Engineering Co ( CNEEC ) , at their own cost . This overhaul project is expected to be completed by January 2023 ..... imagine that ....2008 to 2023 !
