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Botswana Power Corporation partners Norwegian firm, Scatec, to build solar plant

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Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has announced that it has awarded Norwegian company Scatec ASA a contract to build a 50 MW solar plant.

According to the agreement, Scatec will finance, build, own and operate the solar plant and recoup its investment by selling electricity to BPC over 25 years.

BPC CEO David Kgoboko said procurement of another large-scale solar plant was underway, “The plant is our first and largest utility-scale grid-connected solar PV plant and we expect the project to be operational by June 2024.”

According to a statement by Scatec, though Botswana possesses 66% of Africa’s coal resources, the nation’s ambitions to drive a renewable energy transformation are clear to see. Neighboring country, South Africa, has displayed that the transition to renewables can be cost-effective and sustainable – whilst aligning with global carbon emission reduction goals.

“We are proud to have reached this milestone with the BPC – demonstrating our ability to support and deliver clean energy and infrastructure to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also a significant achievement for the people of Botswana,” says General Manager of Sub-Saharan Africa, Jan Fourie.

Botswana’s energy capacity is thermal, produced mostly in coal-fired plants with a few small diesel generators in rural areas. The 132 MW Morupule coal-fired station generates most of the domestic electricity supply. More than 50 per cent of Botswana’s power requirements are imported from South Africa and Zambia.

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Nigeria wants managers for proposed $10 billion diaspora fund

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A tender paper shows that Nigeria is looking for fund managers for a $10 billion diaspora fund to bring in dollars and foreign investment for the economy.

The fund wants to pool the billions of dollars that its people send back to the country every month so that they can be used for local investments in things like healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

The World Bank says that Nigeria got more than $20 billion in payments from people living outside of Nigeria last year.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade in Nigeria said in a public post that it was looking for “fund managers for the development and establishment of a multisectoral, multilateral private sector-led investment fund to form the $10 billion Nigeria Diaspora Fund.”

The tender paper said that the fund manager’s job is to plan and set up the fund’s legal, operational, financial, and administrative structures.

The investment is intended to last for three to five years, and then more money will be put in after that. The government said the fund would last for 10 years and could be used for an extra two years.

The trade ministry’s tender said that people who want to run the fund must have done business in Nigeria in the last five years and must have a track record of raising money and running big, profitable venture capital funds.

Anglo-American turned down BHP Group’s $39 billion takeover offer on Friday, saying it was way too low for the London-listed company and its future.

In a statement, Minister of Industry and Trade Doris Anite said that it was a “once-in-a-lifetime chance for our citizens in the diaspora to drive Nigeria’s economic growth.”

The naira is under pressure because of a lack of foreign currency because of lower crude oil exports. This has led companies and people to buy dollars on the black market.

Nigeria is going to issue migrant bonds later this year to bring in even more foreign currency.

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World Bank grants Malawi $57.6 million for food crisis

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As a response to its food crisis, the World Bank said on Friday that it would give Malawi $57.6 million in “quick release” grants.

“This support comes in the context of the severe food crisis the country is suffering due to El Niño conditions in the wider southern Africa region,” the World Bank said in a statement.

“A series of intense disaster events over the last few years has left almost no time for the country to recover and has resulted in a severe erosion of food security at the national level.”

Malawi is one of the least developed countries in the world. It is ranked 170 out of 187 countries in the 2010 Human Development Index. Almost 16 million people live there, and 90% of them make less than $2 a day. That’s 53% of the total population.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that 46,000 children in Malawi are seriously malnourished. In 2023, UNICEF said that more than 500,000 Malawian children were at risk of not getting enough food.

Now, Malawi has a lot of programs in place to deal with things like poverty, and climate change, and to make the business and agriculture more diverse.

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