ACWA Power Consortium Named Preferred Bidder of BOKPOORT CSP IPP in South Africa
On 21 May 2012, the consortium led by ACWA Power International (ACWA Power), the Saudi water and power giant, and includes Industrial Development Corporation, Lereko Solafrica Investment, Lereko Metier Solafrica Fund 1, Lereko Metier Sustainable Capital Fund, Kurisani Solafrica Investments and Solafrica Community Investment Company was announced as preferred bidder to develop the BOKPOORT CSP Independent Power Project located in Northern Cape Province, 600 km west of Johannesburg, in the Republic of South Africa (BOKPOORT CSP Project). When fully developed, the greenfield project will generate power utilizing the concentrated solar power (CSP) parabolic trough technology. The development of the BOKPOORT CSP Project was undertaken by ACWA Power as the lead developer with Solafrica Thermal Energy as co-developer.
Forming part of South Africa’s renewable IPP program, the BOKPOORT CSP Project will be implemented on a BOO (build, own, operate) scheme and will be designed to generate a net power output of 50 MWe. The BOKPOORT CSP Project is to be equipped with the largest thermal storage ever adopted for a facility of its size. When completed, the BOKPOORT CSP Project will be among the most efficient solar plants in the world operating in this class of capacity and technology. It is expected to yield a record-high generation in excess of 200 GWh/year to support the power grid of South Africa.
The BOKPOORT CSP Project is one of only 19 projects selected by the Department of Energy of South Africa from among the 79 bids submitted for the second window of the country’s first Renewable Energy IPP procurement programme. The BOKPOORT CSP Project was the only CSP technology selected. The rest of the other projects are based on photovoltaic, wind and hydro technologies.
The ACWA Power-led consortium has selected a consortium of EPC contractors composed of TSK Electrónica y Electricidad S.A., Acciona Infrastructuras S.A., Acciona Ingeniería S.A., Sener Ingeniería y Sistemas S.A., all from Spain, and Crowie Concessions (Pty) Limited of South Africa. The construction of the power facility will provide more than 40% of scope procured locally in South Africa.
The operation and maintenance will be undertaken by the consortium led by NOMAC, a subsidiary of ACWA Power. The offtaker will be Eskom Holdings SOC Limited, a government-owned national utility. The target financial close is scheduled for the end of 2012 while the power facility’s Commercial Operation Date is planned for the third-quarter of 2015.
The BOKPOORT CSP Project has partnered with South Africa-based Investec Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa and Industrial Development Corporation. They will provide the debt funding requirements of the project.
In addition to direct investments and the creation of an excess of 900 jobs in South Africa during the construction period, the BOKPOORT CSP Project will also inject significant socio-economic value into the rural South African economy in the vicinity of the power facility (which is to be located in one of the poorest areas of the country) by bringing an average yearly contribution of US$2 million of additional investments and creating about 60 permanent employment opportunities during the operational life of the power facility.
Whilst South Africa relies heavily on coal to meet its energy needs, the country is well-endowed with renewable energy resources that offer sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. With the CSP technology to be used, the BOKPOORT CSP Project will serve to abate “green approach” by saving approximately 230,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions for every year of operation. The technology used in BOKPOORT will be a positive factor in offsetting the South Africa’s grid peak power demand period in particular due to its unique size of thermal storage.
Padmanathan went on to say that: