The Botswana government has called for companies to tender for the provision of consultancy services to conduct a prefeasi- bility study for the construction of a solar geothermal power plant in the country.



“Solar energy is recognised as the most promising renewable energy source in Botswana,” State-owned Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) said in an advertisement, placed over the weekend.



BPC said that the country had an abundant solar energy resource, which had gone largely untapped, although it boasted one of the highest rates of insolation in the world.



“Owing to, among other things, the looming energy crisis, and, to some extent, an element of increasing the level of self-sufficiency, the government fully supports the implementation of a solar thermal generation in Botswana,” the power utility stated.



Interested firms had until April 27 to submit their tenders.



African countries neighbouring South Africa have increasingly had to look at power self-sufficiency, after South Africa’s Eskom was struggling to keep up with local demand.

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