The groundbreaking ceremony for the commencement of construction at the Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power plant has been held today in Groblershoop, South Africa.
The ceremony has been hosted by Saudi company ACWA Power International, who leads the consortium awarded to develop the CSP plant in the Northern Cape region.
The Bokpoort CSP plant, 50 MW parabolic trough with 9.3 hours of thermal energy storage, was awarded in the second round of the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program to a consortium comprising ACWA and Solafrica Thermal Energy.
The plant is expected to generate a record-high of roughly 200 GWh per year, equipped with the largest thermal energy storage ever adopted for a solar power plant of this class and capacity in the world. A typical 50 MW parabolic trough plant without storage can hardly reach 120 GWh. The energy storage feature makes CSP the only renewable technology at commercial scale to cover the country's daily peak demand from 5 to 9 PM thereby helping to prevent power black outs.
Spanish companies Acciona, SENER and TSK, with a vast track record of CSP development in Spain and otehr countries, were awarded the Engineering Procurement and Construction contract. More details about the pant are available here, in our CSP world map.
Mohammed Bin Abdullah Abunayyan, Chairman of ACWA Power, stated in his address at the ground breaking ceremony, “It was only three years ago that ACWA Power decided to expand our operations outside of our Saudi Arabian home market. ACWA Power targeted four countries which we believe are the most promising; Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and of course South Africa. We have already started work on three major projects which represent a total of 800 MW in the pipeline and an investment commitment of R4.5 Billion to date. Over the next five years we aim to establish a multi fuel portfolio (coal, gas, hydro, solar and wind) and deliver 4000 MW over these four countries.”
- See more at: http://www.csp-world.com/news/20130925/001189/groundbreaking-ceremony-bokpoorts-csp-plant-south-africa-has-been-held#sthash.TwmWUXtY.dpuf
The ceremony has been hosted by Saudi company ACWA Power International, who leads the consortium awarded to develop the CSP plant in the Northern Cape region.
The Bokpoort CSP plant, 50 MW parabolic trough with 9.3 hours of thermal energy storage, was awarded in the second round of the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program to a consortium comprising ACWA and Solafrica Thermal Energy.
The plant is expected to generate a record-high of roughly 200 GWh per year, equipped with the largest thermal energy storage ever adopted for a solar power plant of this class and capacity in the world. A typical 50 MW parabolic trough plant without storage can hardly reach 120 GWh. The energy storage feature makes CSP the only renewable technology at commercial scale to cover the country's daily peak demand from 5 to 9 PM thereby helping to prevent power black outs.
Spanish companies Acciona, SENER and TSK, with a vast track record of CSP development in Spain and otehr countries, were awarded the Engineering Procurement and Construction contract. More details about the pant are available here, in our CSP world map.
Mohammed Bin Abdullah Abunayyan, Chairman of ACWA Power, stated in his address at the ground breaking ceremony, “It was only three years ago that ACWA Power decided to expand our operations outside of our Saudi Arabian home market. ACWA Power targeted four countries which we believe are the most promising; Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and of course South Africa. We have already started work on three major projects which represent a total of 800 MW in the pipeline and an investment commitment of R4.5 Billion to date. Over the next five years we aim to establish a multi fuel portfolio (coal, gas, hydro, solar and wind) and deliver 4000 MW over these four countries.”
- See more at: http://www.csp-world.com/news/20130925/001189/groundbreaking-ceremony-bokpoorts-csp-plant-south-africa-has-been-held#sthash.TwmWUXtY.dpuf
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