Botswana imports a significant portion of its electricity and all of the petroleum products that are consumed in the country. The country continues to rely heavily on electricity imports from South Africa and other countries within the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). These imports are increasingly costly and over the period 2009 to 2013 the unit cost of imported power rose by 85 %.
In order to mitigate the high cost of both electricity and petroleum product imports, the Government of Botswana (GoB) is keen to improve energy efficiency in the country. This is reflected in Botswana's 10th National development Plan (NDP 10) that states that for energy conservation and demand management the strategy will be to target efficient utilization of energy in buildings, transport and industry, promotion of energy efficient equipment, and the development of policy and legislation for demand-side management including price as a regulator of demand. Improved energy efficiency is also viewed as a positive means of contributing to Botswana's international climate change and carbon emissions obligations. Studies have indicated that 10 - 15 % of the energy consumed in Botswana could be saved by implementing short-term energy efficiency measures.
The objectives of this assignment is to recommend strategic actions which could be taken by the GoB to promote and sustain overall energy efficiency improvement. The project's scope covers, among others, stocktaking of existing information, review and in-depth analysis of current situation, identification of priority areas for EE improvements, identification of barriers, assessment of EE improvement potential and development of sector-specific estimates, establishment of institutional frameworks and funding, capacity building and drafting of a comprehensive Energy Efficiency Strategy and Roadmap.