- The plant will serve the King Mswati III International airport
- The Construction will be done under a build, own, transfer (BOT) model
- Current generation capacity is only 10 per cent of demand
The Kingdom of Eswatini has concluded plans to construct an 850 kW solar plant at King Mswati III International Airport. The government is seeking developers to submit their expressions of interest for the facility which will be constructed under a build, own, operate, and transfer (BOT) model. The company with the winning tender will finance, build, own and operate the power plant.
The tender document stipulates that at least 10 per cent of construction materials and 15 per cent of labour will have to be locally sourced. The selection also comes with the signing of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Eswatini Civil Aviation Authority.
The solar plant will reduce the airport’s dependence on the grid. Eswatini currently suffers from power supply challenges as generation capacity currently meets only 10 per cent of energy needs. At the same time, imports from South Africa and Mozambique provide the bulk of the energy supply.
The Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority hopes to add about 40 MW of solar generation capacity by this year and 40 MW of biomass by next year.
In a bid to deploy renewable energy solutions across the continent, countries are embracing different models to attract investments and aid rapid development.