Botswana cancels two coal plants which could open the door for more solar farms.

The short version:

Although coal plant production is declining, many companies are still trying to build in Africa.

Recently two Japanese banks decided not to fund the construction of two coal plants in Botswana.

Currently, Botswana’s power needs are met 100% by coal.

The Botswana Climate Change Network (BCCN) has been campaigning to end the financing of the plants, but most agree that the cancelation was due to financial reasons.

With an average of 3,200 hours of sunshine per year, Botswana could be fantastic for solar farms. They can be built quickly and in smaller steps.

This is exciting news for the people of Botswana in the long term, but in the short term it will hurt. Right now Botswana is importing much of its power and the cancelation of these plants will not help solve that. If the government can find a way to build smaller, localized solar farms then they will be able to chip away from the need to import power and grow their green infrastructure.

This post was created with our nice and easy submission form. Create your post!

Related