ACWA Power Consortium’s Northern Cape thermal storage project is world’s largest

ACWA Power Consortium’s Northern Cape thermal storage project is world’s largest.

ACWA Power International (“ACWA Power”) hosted the official Ground Breaking Ceremony today to commence construction of the Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Park (CSP) Independent Power Project (IPP) located in Groblershoop, Northern Cape. This is the first energy project in South Africa for ACWA Power, a Saudi-based operator of power and desalinated water plants, and is set to add 50 MWe of clean energy to the national grid. Forming part of South Africa’s Renewable Energy IPP procurement program (REIPP), the Bokpoort CSP Project is being equipped with the largest thermal storage ever adopted for a solar power plant of this class and capacity in the world.

The plant thermal storage capacity will be 9.3 hours enabling it to yield a record-high generation in excess of 200 GWh/year well into the night every day throughout the year. This 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.

Mohammed Bin Abdullah Abunayyan, Chairman of ACWA Power, stated in his address at the ground breaking ceremony:

Paddy Padmanathan, President & CEO of ACWA Power added:

Bokpoort CSP IPP was the only CSP technology project and one of only 19 renewable energy projects selected by the Department of Energy of South Africa from among 79 bids submitted for the second window of the country’s REIPP. In addition to wealth creation within South Africa and the local community via the direct investments in the project company, the participation in construction, operation and maintenance by South African companies with previously disadvantaged community participation; it will also lead to the creation of 900 jobs in South Africa during the peak of the construction period. The Bokpoort CSP IPP 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 most under developed 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 wellendowed with renewable energy resources that offer sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. With the CSP technology to be used, the Bokpoort CSP IPP will provide electricity toapproximately 21 000 households and save approximately 230 000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions during every year of operation. The technology used in this project will also be a contributor to offsetting South Africa’s grid peak power demand period in particular due to its unique size of thermal storage.