In Botswana, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction announced that it has won a P2.5 billion ($204 million) tender for the upgrading of the 132MW Morupule A power plant over the next two years.
Replace and repair the power plant
Mmegi Online reported that under the tender agreement, the power construction company will replace and repair the essential parts of the Morupule A power plant including turbines and boilers for improved performance.
The power plant consists of four generators, each producing 33MW but as from 2008 the plant’s availability capacity dropped from over 84% to below 30% in 2012, forcing to the shutdown.
According to the Mmegi Online, government and Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) conducted two studies which indicated that the station can be revived back to design level capacity through the upgrading of boilers, turbines, generators and other contributing equipment.
On completion of the upgrade Morupule A is estimated to function at 80% plant availability for another 15 years.
Morupule B power station expands
Preferred bidders for the expansion of the Morupule B power station were recently announced as another South Korean firm, Posco Energy, in a joint venture with a Japanese company. The expansion is for a further 300MW at cost of P8.1 billion ($800 million).
The construction is predicted to commence late in 2016 after finalising the power purchase agreement (PPA). The first electricity is estimated to start feeding into the national grid by May 2020.
Morupule B power station is projected to lift power generation to more than 1,000MW, exceeding the national demand of approximately 610MW.
The JV will solely fund the construction and in return will recoup the costs by selling the electricity to the BPC under a 30-year PPA.