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- Tsaone Segeatsho
Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE)-listed Tlou Energy has announced that its Lesedi Gas-to-Power project will start lighting up in June or July 2024.
Tlou is into exploration and evaluation of power solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa through Coalbed Methane (CBM) gas-fired power. According to directors of the company, at Tlou they are developing a proposed 10MW gas-to-power project.
They announced in the latest company’s results that the first electricity to be generated at Lesedi is planned to go towards satisfying the 10MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), the national power utility.
In the Financial Statements for the half-year ended 31 December 2023, the company reported that the Lesedi project was approximately 100km from the nearest BPC substation connection in Serowe. The Lesedi project has several components of the development process either completed or ongoing including the construction of transmission lines, substations, a field operations facility and generation site as well as production wells.
“To connect to the national grid, the Company had to construct a 100km 66kV transmission line. This, together with associated infrastructure and gas production wells should enable the Company to connect and provide electricity into Botswana’s power network. Construction of the 66kV transmission line has been completed by the contractor Zismo Engineering Pty Ltd (Zismo). Minor finishing works and the addition of switchgear at the Serowe substation will be done prior to the line being energised. The line is planned to remain under care and maintenance until energisation, which is expected around mid-2024,” explained the directors in the latest financial results report.
When addressing the construction of the substation, the directors said in addition to the transmission line, an electrical substation is required at the Lesedi end of the transmission line, whereas at the opposite end the line has been connected to the existing BPC substation at Serowe.
The substation at Lesedi was initially designed for the first 5MW of power, however during the half year the company changed the design to facilitate expansion beyond 10MW, said the directors. According to the directors, this will be beneficial as the project grows.
“The connection at Serowe is complete and the Lesedi substation is approximately 38% complete. It is currently anticipated that the work will be completed around mid-2024,” the directors said, adding that Tlou is flowing gas and has a fully functional operations base about 100km west of Serowe. The operations base is located on Tlou’s own 4,000-hectare property and the recently constructed 100km 66kV power line allows direct access into the regional power grid.
Tlou’s Managing Director, Tony Gilby said: “The Company has made excellent progress over recent months and we are getting very close to first revenue. Having direct access to the power grid opens up our gas field to a huge market. It has taken hard work and significant investment over many years to get to this point and we look forward to delivering power and earning first revenue for the Company as soon as possible.”
According to Gilby, Lesedi operations 10MW power generation facility near Serowe, central Botswana’s electricity will be sold into the power grid later this year and then expand rapidly. In the latest financial report, the company directors says while Tlou has signed a 10MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) with the aim for first power to be supplied into the national grid in 2024, there is a risk that the grid connection infrastructure could be delayed thereby postponing first power sales.
The company further states that no other agreements are currently in place for sale of power or gas to other parties. But Gilby has given an assurance that the Company works closely with its contractors and engineers to progress infrastructure projects in a timely manner.
“Management continues to explore opportunities with other potential customers across the region, potentially via the Southern African Power Pool or within Botswana. The company also aims to diversify its products including potentially producing solar power, hydrogen, carbon black/graphite and cryptocurrencies,” he said.
Commenting on climate change, Gilby indicated that the company has acknowledged that climate initiatives could have a material impact on fossil fuel projects such as Tlou’s Lesedi gas-to-power project.
“Tlou’s Lesedi gas-to-power project aims to be part of a power market in Sub-Saharan Africa that will move away from carbon intensive coal and diesel fired power generation. While also a fossil fuel, gas is viewed as a transitional fuel that can assist with providing base load power until such time that sustainable and/or renewable power sources can provide reliable 24-hour base load power. We are aware that the company may need to adapt its process to meet future climate needs and will continue to assess new information as it becomes available,” said Gilby.
