Morupule Thermal Power Station is a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dead ...

-fired

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalah ...

. It is responsible for an estimated 80 percent of the country's domestic power generation.

Location

The power station is located near the town of

Palapye Palapye is a growing town in Botswana, situated about halfway between Francistown and Gaborone ( from Francistown and from Gaborone). Over the years its position has made it a convenient stopover on one of Southern Africa's principal north–sout ...

, in the Central District, approximately , by road, north-east of

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

, Botswana's capital city. The geographical coordinates of Morupule Thermal Power Station are 22°31'12.0"S, 27°02'12.0"E (Latitude:-22.520000; Latitude:27.036667).

Overview

Morupule A

Morupule A Power Station comprises four air-cooled 33 megawatts coal-fired units, with coal supplied from the adjacent Morupule Colliery, owned by Debswana. Total generation capacity is 132 megawatts. Construction on the existing station started in 1982 and was completed in 1989. In 2016, the

government of Botswana The Government of Botswana often abbreviated as GOB, is the union government created by the constitution of Botswana having the executive, parliament, and the judiciary. The Seat of the Government is located in Gaborone, Botswana. The governm ...

sourced funds to renovate and restore Morupule A. The contract was won by

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Doosan Enerbility Co., Ltd., formerly known as Doosan Heavy Industries, is a heavy industrial company headquartered in Changwon, South Korea. It was established in 1962. Its business includes manufacturing and construction of nuclear power pl ...

at a contract price of BWP:2.5 billion (US$204 million in 2016 money). The upgrade was expected to last until 2018. On completion of the upgrade Morupule A is expected to function at 80 percent plant availability for another 15 years (until 2033).

Morupule B

Botswana Power Corporation Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) is a state-owned company for electrical power generation, transmission and distribution in Botswana. It was established in 1970 and is currently the only electricity supplier in the country. BPC represents Botswan ...

(BPC) was considering an expansion of the Morupule Power Station since 2006. BPC eventually decided on 600 megawatts, consisting of four 150 megawatts units. At the time this project was conceptualized, 80 percent of the electricity consumed in Botswana, was imported from the South African utility,

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repres ...

. The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inter ...

and the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies in ...

both provided partial funding to the construction of Morupule B. In 2010 construction began, with the lead contractor being China National Electric Equipment Corporation (CNEEC). Completion was expected in 2012. However, by April 2013, Units I and II were out of service, undergoing repairs for cracks in their air ducts, that developed soon after installation. Unit III, the only functioning unit at the time, had also developed the same problem. Unit IV was still under construction. This led to severe power shortage, resulting in

load shedding Demand response is a change in the power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power with the supply. Until the 21st century decrease in the cost of pumped storage and batteries electric energy could not be ...

and

rolling blackout A rolling blackout, also referred to as rota or rotational load shedding, rota disconnection, feeder rotation, or a rotating outage, is an intentionally engineered electrical power shutdown in which electricity delivery is stopped for non-overl ...

s. In January 2014, the government of Botswana hired STEAG Energy Services of Germany to “identify problems created by CNEEC and rectify them”. After CNEEC was forced to leave, on 31 December 2013, STEAG took over maintenance and operation of Morupule B, effective 1 January 2014. Installation of all four units was completed in 2014. In June 2018, the government of Botswana terminated talks with state-owned China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), in attempts to divest from Morupule B. These negotiations had been ongoing since 2016. In 2018, the power station was producing at about 81 percent capacity (producing approximately 486 megawatts).

Controversy

The Morupule B Power Station has been beset with problems right from the start. A forensic investigation into the matter has found that Botswana Power Company staff members colluded with CNEEC to embezzle more than BWP:1 billion (approx. US$90.5 million in 2014), from the BWP:10 billion (approx. US$905 million) Morupule B power project.

Ownership

Morupule A and Morupule B are both owned 100 percent by the

(BPC).

References

External links

About Botswana Power Corporation
{{Portal, Energy Coal-fired power stations in Botswana 1989 establishments in Botswana Energy infrastructure completed in 1989