Physics:Orapa Power Station

Orapa Power Station Orapa Power Station Orapa Power Station (Botswana)
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Country	Botswana
Location	Orapa Central District
Coordinates
Status	Operational
Project commissioning	2011
Operator(s)	Botswana Power Corporation
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Natural Gas
Tertiary fuel	Diesel
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	90 MW
Annual net output	N/A (Peaking power plant)
External links
Website	http://www.bpc.bw

The Orapa Power Station is a Peak load power generation plant located in the mining town of Orapa in northeastern Botswana in the Central District. It is built within the Debswana Diamond Company Ltd Orapa diamond mine fenced leased area and is operated by the Botswana Power Corporation.

Background

The plant construction was initiated when Botswana started experiencing electricity supply challenges from year 2007 when demand for electricity in the country started exceeding the county's electricity generation capacity leading to forced periodic nation wide load shedding excises by the Botswana Power Corporation. The plant was a short term response to the mining industry electricity requirements prior to the development of Mmamabula and Morupule B power stations.

The plant site is located next to an electrical substation through which it connects to the national grid and was designed to use either natural gas or diesel as fuel. It was commissioned using diesel with a planned conversion to natural gas once construction of a gas pipeline from nearby gas fields was complete and commissioned.

Specifications

The plant consists of two 45MW GE LM6000 Sprint Simple Cycle gas turbines fueled using diesel. The energy produced is transferred to the national grid via the interconnected Orapa Substation by use of two short 132kV overhead power lines.

See also

• List of power stations in Botswana