Executive summary for editors

· Botswana’s solar journey is gaining momentum, moving beyond pilot projects to large-scale investments. This progress is fuelled by supportive policies, proactive regulation, and a growing appetite for private sector involvement.

· Recent milestones, such as Sturdee Energy’s Bobonong (3MW) and Shakawe (1MW) solar plants, became commercially operational in October 2023. These are the country’s first independent solar power producers, setting a precedent for future renewable projects.

· Botswana still relies heavily on electricity imports, mainly from Eskom and other regional suppliers. This dependency highlights the real need for local, reliable energy making renewables not just a green choice, but a strategic one.

· For investors and funders, making a project ‘bankable’ goes beyond technology and tariffs. The right insurance structure and timing can be the difference between a project that gets off the ground and one that stalls.

· The article reframes solar insurance as a project enabler (not a “tick-box”), and includes factual product placement of available construction/engineering and marine/transit covers via Old Mutual Botswana’s Short-term Insurance capability.

Botswana’s energy transition is no longer a distant ambition. It is becoming an investment reality driven by the practical need for energy security, rising demand, and a clear push to bring more private capital into generation. National planning instruments explicitly recognise a role for independent power producers (IPPs), while the energy regulator’s mandate includes licensing and oversight across renewables.

At the same time, the grid context matters. Recent national statistics show that imports remain a meaningful part of supply and can shift significantly over time. In the third quarter of 2025, import sources were dominated by Eskom (68.2%), with additional imports from ZESCO, NamPower, and the Southern African Power Pool, while local generation contributed 53.8% to electricity distributed in that quarter. This variability is exactly why renewables are increasingly viewed as “strategic infrastructure,” not simply an environmental preference.

We can already see early proof points. Sturdee Energy’s 3MW Bobonong and 1MW Shakawe solar PV plants achieved commercial operation in October 2023. These projects are small in capacity, but large in signalling: Botswana can structure bankable PPAs, procure competitively, and connect private solar generation into the national grid.

The next wave is larger. Botswana has pursued utility-scale procurement for years, including a 100MW (2x50MW) solar PV RFQ process designed to attract IPP developers selling power to the state utility through a PPA. More recently, Botswana signed a PPA to develop a 100MW solar plant in Jwaneng.

Why insurance is now part of the energy conversation

As solar projects grow, so do the risks. These projects require major investments and depend on tight construction schedules. Even a short delay can impact budgets and timelines, especially when imported equipment or finance deadlines are involved.

International best practice is clear: insurance is not just paperwork at the end. It shapes risk-sharing between developers, lenders, and government. Covering risks from equipment in transit to construction setbacks to delays in starting operations can make or break a project’s financial viability.

Risk advisers make the same point from the lender side, often requiring confidence that the insurance programme has integrity over the duration of the finance contract; lender requirements frequently extend to both construction and operating policies, and business owners are advised to engage risk advisers early to align insurance structure with stakeholder expectations. Development finance guidance echoes this, with insurance being as an “integral part” of project finance, listing typical construction-phase policies (CAR, advanced loss of profits, marine all risks, marine delay in start-up, third-party liability) and operational-phase policies (all risks/machinery breakdown and business interruption, among others).

Botswana’s approach is increasingly aligned with international practice, particularly in emphasising robust risk-transfer mechanisms and early engagement on insurance structures. Compared with some other African markets where insurance standards can be inconsistent or treated as an afterthought, Botswana’s focus on lender-friendly, comprehensive coverage is positioning the market to attract more private investment and de-risk projects in line with global expectations.

The real risk profile of solar sits across the lifecycle.

A common mistake is to think of “solar risk” as only weather or theft. In practice, bankability depends on managing a chain of exposures:

· Regulatory and licensing readiness. Botswana’s regulator sets licensing requirements for renewable-energy activities, including evidence of financial and technical capability and land-use rights, and licenses installations above certain capacity thresholds.

· Transit and storage risk. PV modules, inverters, and transformers often cross borders and pass through multiple storage points. PPP project finance guidance explicitly flags the need to insure materials during shipment and align transit insurance with the “all risk” policy on site.

· Construction and commissioning risk. CAR/CEAR is the backbone, but DSU and professional indemnity (for design fault exposure) often become decisive for lenders.

· Operational performance and physical risk. Once operating, projects are exposed to fire, electrical faults, component failure, and natural perils. Severe wind and hail are increasingly prominent in global solar loss experience; industry risk notes highlight that hail sizes can exceed baseline test assumptions and that mounting systems and installation quality are frequent drivers of wind losses.

That’s why insurance is now seen as a strategic tool, not just another cost. It brings clarity, helping teams identify which risks can be managed, shared, or absorbed so projects stay on track and funders remain confident.

What this means for Botswana’s solar build-out

Botswana’s clean-energy ambition is substantial. The World Bank–hosted National Energy Compact describes an intention to scale renewables dramatically (from a stated 7–8% to 50% by 2030), with significant private capital expected to fund part of the transition. Even where targets differ across official documents, the direction is consistent: more renewables, more grid investment, more private participation.

For projects to be finance-ready, insurance needs to be designed early enough to shape procurement, contracting and risk engineering, not bolted on after EPC selection. Insurance can materially affect cash-flow models and debt cover ratios, and banks’ insurance expectations can become deal breakpoints if adequate risk-transfer capacity cannot be secured.

At Old Mutual Botswana Short-term Insurance, our role is to help clients and brokers structure fit-for-purpose risk protection using the building blocks that solar projects actually need, particularly engineering/construction and marine/transit cover. Our Engineering (construction) insurance includes cover areas such as contract work and dismantling transit and erection (DTE), alongside plant all risks, machinery breakdown and loss of gross profits/revenue solutions. Our Marine insurance provides cargo and inland transit cover, and also includes “marine advanced loss of profits” designed to address loss of profits and increased cost of working following covered losses, including DSU-type impacts linked to imported critical equipment.

“In solar, the biggest risk isn’t a broken panel—it’s a delayed project. The right insurance structure keeps construction and revenue on track, helping projects move from ‘bankable on paper’ to operational reality.” — Gaone Sibanda, Managing Director: Short-term Insurance, Old Mutual Botswana.

Botswana’s solar future will be built on engineering, finance, and trust. Insurance helps connect all three — by turning uncertainty into quantified, contractible risk.By offering these targeted solutions, we help remove major barriers that can slow down new solar projects. When developers, lenders, and other stakeholders know that risks are properly managed and covered from the outset, they have greater confidence to move projects forward quickly. This directly supports faster approvals, secures financing, and reduces construction delays, resulting in a stronger pipeline of solar projects reaching completion. Ultimately, effective insurance structures play a key role in accelerating solar adoption across Botswana and scaling up renewable capacity to meet national energy goals.