Francistown APR power station is a 70 MW oil power plant in Francistown, Botswana. It is operated by Botswana Power Corp [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 53k homes (estimated). It ranks #11 of 12 Botswana power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 2010, it is around 16 years old — relatively modern. In context, oil supplies about 1.5% of Botswana's electricity; the national grid averages 851 gCO₂/kWh (0.3% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_francistownapr_botswa.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM · 2026 · L100000408150; fuel: GEM GOGPT
Technically it is described as Engine. Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Operated by Botswana Power Corp [100%].
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSh) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 21.2°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 93% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 16/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a benign, low-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C1 — Very low), with dust abrasion the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
Botswana has 1 oil power plant in this dataset, together about 70 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -21.167217, 27.518818 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Francistown APR power station is a 70 MW oil power plant in Francistown, Botswana, commissioned in 2010.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 52,560 homes (estimated).
Francistown APR power station is operated by Botswana Power Corp [100%].
