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Botswana Defence Force (BDF) is optimistic that University of Botswana‘s quest to help it tap into solar energy through the Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative (SOLTRAIN) will help reduce their electricity bill.

“We hope that through this engagement we should be able to make meaningful savings which will in turn add value to our shrinking budgets,” said Director General Support Services, Major General Molefi Seikano.

Maj. General Seikano was speaking at a SOLTRAIN Information Workshop on Installation of Funded Solar Water Heaters at the BDF headquarters in Gaborone on October 27, 2021. The workshop, organised by UB’s Clean Energy Research Centre, was meant to capacitate BDF on the uptake of solar heating technology. The BDF has been chosen as a launching pad for the initiative, which is funded by the Austrian Development Agency. Highlighting the BDF’s expenditure, Maj. General Seikano said for the 2020/2021 financial year, monthly expenditure on electricity stood at P35.6 million while total annual expenditure was P426 million. Consequently, he said the figures demonstrated the huge cost of electricity hence the solar technology translated into considerable cost reductions.

“The savings that are likely to come as a result of solar system will be a big boost to our financial management,” said Maj. General Seikano. Although he acknowledged that replacing electricity with solar would not come cheap, he said BDF would in the long-term gain from the SOLTRAIN initiative because of zero bills. In July this year, SOLTRAIN trained 20 BDF technicians in solar heater installations and Maj. General Seikano said should BDF decide to take the offer, installation costs would be further reduced, as they would be utilizing their personnel instead of private companies.

SOLTRAIN IV Project manager, Professor Kevin Nwaigwe, also encouraged BDF to apply for the outstanding 300 000 euros  (approximately P3.9 million) available to SADC countries before the current phase ends in December next year. He said it was important for BDF to take advantage of the initiative while the opportunity availed itself because it involved a pool of funds from different governments including Botswana. Professor Nwaigwe added that the target was to install 100 systems throughout the SADC region. Unfortunately, he said there was no quota for the partner countries and if one were to take all the 100 systems, the SADC target would have been met. Therefore, it was critical for Botswana to benefit before application for new projects closes in June next year.

Professor Nwaigwe said for every demonstration system, SOLTRAIN could pay up to 50 per cent of the total cost and only certified companies which had been trained through the system are engaged. The SOLTRAIN project is an intiative funded by the Austrian Development Agency and co-funded by OPEC. The project, which commenced in 2016 and in Phase IV, is housed at the Clean Energy Research Centre in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FET) at the University of Botswana. It is a partnership project involving universities and institutions in the SADC sub-region (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique). The aim is to give targeted countries support in transforming from a largely fossil energy supply system to a sustainable supply structure based on renewable energy through training in the design, installation and maintenance of solar thermal systems catering for cooling and heating to reduce strain on the electricity grid system.