Enel breaks ground for 82.5-MW solar plant in South Africa

Enel begins work on Pulida

Italian renewable energy company Enel Green Power has started building the Pulida solar power plant in Free State Province, South Africa.

The 82.5-megawatt project is expected to generate 150 gigawatt hour per year when completed. In terms of energy consumption, power generated by the project is adequate to meet the average power needs of 48,000 South African households.

The Pulida project is to sell power to South African utility Eskom in keeping with a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

Eskom signed the PPA with Enel in October 2013 as part of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) promoted by the South African Government.

Enel had also won the right to build Gibson Bay (111 MW) and Nojoli (88 MW) wind power projects, as well as Aurora (82.5 MW), Paleisheweul (82.5 MW) and Tom Burke (66 MW) solar power projects, at the REIPPPP auction.

The company already owns and manages the 10-MW Upington solar facility. It recently won another 425 MW of wind power projects under the fourth round of REIPPPP auctions.

Enel had the power generation capacity of about 32 billion kWh in 2014, including water, sun, wind and geothermal projects adequate to meet the energy needs of more than 11 million households.

As of today, the company claims to have total installed capacity of more than 9,800 MW globally from a mix of sources including wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass projects. The company has about 740 plants operating in 15 countries.

Ajith Kumar S

[email protected]