Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has written to withdraw its own statement calling for expressions of interest in the development, financing, construction and operation of six solar photovoltaic plants in the country.
The Corporation says it will “refund all bidders who have purchased the tender”.
The tender was scheduled to close on the 25th March 2022.
In a statement signed by Thatayaone Mothibi, BPC’s Supply Chain Manager, which referred to the tender statement originally published on the website bpc.bw on January 6, 2022, the company said it was exercising its “right to Accept any and to Reject any or all Proposals’ of the Request for Proposal” and would like to withdraw the tender calling for expressions of interest in the development, financing, construction and operation of six solar photovoltaic plants in the country “which is floating on the BPC website”.
As a result of this withdrawal “the Corporation will refund all bidders who have purchased the tender. Bidders who have purchased the tender are required to submit bank confirmation letters through which the refund for the purchased tender will be forwarded”, Mothibi’s statement read.
“The Corporation extends its gratitude to all the bidders who have shown interest in participating in this tender and at the same time apologize for any inconvenience caused by this withdrawal”.
The implementation of the project, if it had happened, was to be in line with the Botswana government’s goal of increasing the country’s installed capacity to meet domestic demand and reduce electricity imports.
With an installed capacity of 450 MW, Botswana imports an additional 150 MW from South Africa. By some estimates, the national demand at 550 MW. The copuntry recently received a $1Million grant from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a financing facility managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The purpose of this support is to facilitate private investment in the renewable energy sector, including off-grid solutions that enable rural electrification.
