Tati Solar Power Station


Tati Solar Power Station is a planned solar power station in Botswana. The power station is under development by a consortium that comprises two independent power producers, one based in Botswana, and the other based in the United Kingdom. Investors in the solar project come from South Africa, United Kingdom and the Netherlands. When completed, this renewable energy infrastructure project is expected to become the first privately owned, large-scale grid-ready, solar power plant in the country.

Location

The power station would be located on, in Tati, outside the city of Francistown, the country's second-largest city. Francistown is located about, north-east of the city of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.

Overview

The power station has a planned capacity of 100 megawatts. It will be developed in phases. The first phase will have capacity of 50 megawatts. As of February 2021, the developers had received an environmental certificate of compliance from the relevant local authorities. In July 2021, the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority also approved the project, and issued a generation license.

Developers

The power station is under development by a consortium comprising Shumba Energy Limited from Botswana and Solarcentury Africa, based in the United Kingdom.
;Shumba Energy Limited
Shumba Energy Limited is a Botswana-based "mineral exploration company, with a portfolio of exploration and mining coal projects". The company's shares are publicly listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange and co-listed on the Mauritius Stock Exchange.
;Solarcentury Africa
Solarcentury Africa is a subsidiary of BB Energy, an independent energy trading company, based in the United Kingdom. It primarily deals in "gasoil, gasoline, bitumen and fuel oil". As of August 2021, Solarcentury maintains a portfolio of 2.1 gigawatts of installed generation capacity, sold to mining operations, commercial and industrial clients in Africa.
The owner/developers of this power station are expected to create a special purpose vehicle company to own and operate the solar farm. For descriptive purposes, this SPV is called Tati Solar Company here. The table below illustrates the shareholding in Tati Solar Company.
RankShareholderDomicileDescriptionNotes
1Shumba EnergyBotswanaIndependent Power Producer
2Solarcentury AfricaUnited KingdomIndependent Solar Power Producer