BPOPF strengthens Tlou Energy balance sheet
Tlou Energy’s quarterly operational report has highlighted that the company was sitting on a strong cash position at the end of the first quarter.
Figures issued by the company this week indicate strong Tlou Energy’s coffers, following US$ 5m ( approximately P60.19 million) received during the quarter from Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund ( BPOFP).
“At the end of the quarter, the company had A$ 8.67m ( approximately P104.37 million) cash on hand,” said Tlou Energy Managing Director, Anthony Gilby. With three projects in the pipeline - Lesedi Project for gas and solar power development, hydrogen and solid carbon production, ongoing exploration and evaluation at Mamba Project and Boomslang Project, Tlou Energy’s the largest chunk of cash reserves will be spent on Lesedi Project. “Funding towards the construction of the transmission line and associated infrastructure was received during the quarter from Botswana Public Officers Pensions Fund, a long‐ term supporter of the Company and Tlou’s largest shareholder,” said Gilby. The BPOFP funding is for construction of transmission line to connect to the national power grid.
In March, the emerging energy producer signed an agreement with Zismo, for the construction of transmission lines that will connect its Lesedi power project to Botswana Power Corporation ( BPC) electricity grid.
The project will take 15 months to complete.
“Commencement of transmission line construction represents a new and exciting phase for the Company aimed at delivering on our huge gas‐ to‐ power potential and starting the monetisation process for our considerable gas reserves. We very much look forward to working with Zismo on transmission line construction and achieving first revenue,” said Gilby.
“It has taken a long time but what has been achieved to this point is outstanding. We are extremely grateful to our stakeholders and investors for staying the course.”
Meanwhile, Tlou Energy has signed a 10 MW Power Purchase Agreement ( PPA) with the Botswana Power Corporation ( BPC) under which BPC will purchase up to 10 MW of power generated at the company’s Lesedi power project. This comes after the company received a 10MW electricity generation licence from the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority ( BERA) with a term of 15 years. The PPA is for an initial five- year term and will help Tlou Energy in reaching the financial close for Phase 1 of the project, expected to cost $ 10 million ( about 100 million). In addition to the overhead lines, substations will be installed at Lesedi and Serowe, the Lesedi substation will integrate the generation assets with the transmission line and the Serowe substation will tie in with Botswana Power Corporation’s existing infrastructure. The work will be completed by OptiPower, a division of Murray & Roberts Ltd and the substation contract is due to be signed later, with completion scheduled to tie in with completion of the overhead lines.