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Botswana is set to begin construction of its first utility-scale solar power plant after developers secured $100 million in financing, as the Southern African country looks to reduce pressure on its electricity system and sell power into a regional market facing rising demand. The 100-megawatt Tati Solar Project is expected to start commercial operations in 2027.
The project is being developed by Etavi Renewables and Shumba Energy, with Rand Merchant Bank, a unit of South Africa’s FirstRand Ltd., acting as lead arranger for the financing package. Behind the project is a mix of local and private-sector energy investors, led by Etavi Renewables, a Botswana-based renewable energy developer partly owned by Shumba Energy Ltd.
The electricity from the plant will be sold into the Southern African Power Pool, a regional market that allows utilities and independent power producers to trade power across borders. The pool serves about 360 million people across 12 countries and has an operating capacity of about 47.7 gigawatts, making it one of Africa’s most important electricity trading platforms.
The Tati Solar Project will test investor appetite for market-based renewable projects in Africa and could help position Botswana as a net electricity supplier in the region. The project comes as the country works to ease pressure on its power system after supply constraints linked to ageing coal plants, generation shortfalls and reduced imports from neighbouring South Africa.
The wider regional market is also facing rising demand, drought-hit hydropower, ageing plants and weak grids, increasing the need for storage systems such as batteries and pumped hydro to stabilise supply and support grid reliability. Botswana’s project is therefore part of a broader effort to reduce dependence on imported electricity, diversify generation and tap into a power-hungry regional market.
“We arranged and underwrote the entire financing package,” Siyanda Mflathelwa, RMB’s head of infrastructure sector solutions, said in an interview. He said the financing structure was commercially viable at utility scale and could increase the volumes traded on the SAPP day-ahead market.
Across the continent, governments and lenders are backing solar, storage and grid projects as population growth, mining, data centres and industrial demand place more pressure on electricity systems. Zambia, Egypt and South Africa have all drawn significant renewable investment, showing how Botswana’s project fits into a wider continental shift toward cleaner power and stronger grid capacity.
A successful rollout could strengthen investor confidence in merchant-style renewable energy projects in Africa, where developers often face weak utilities, currency risks, high borrowing costs and limited transmission capacity. The Tati project stands out because it is designed to sell electricity into a regional power market rather than primarily supply a domestic utility.
