Abengoa has partnered with Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and KaXu Community Trust to launch a 100 MW concentrated solar thermal power plant near the town of Pofadder in Northern Cape Province.
The KaXu Solar One (KXSO) project is South Africa’s first concentrated solar thermal power plant (CSP) and uses parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight on a trough of liquid, which is heated to drive a generator.
In addition, KaXu also stores energy in the form of molten salts to provide 100MW of power for 2.5 hours without direct sunlight.
Abengoa owns 51 percent of the project, the IDC 29 percent and KaXu Community Trust 20 percent.
The plant is capable of providing sustainable power to approximately 80,000 homes in South Africa.
The project will bring in around USD 891 million direct and indirect investment inflows to South Africa, generating USD 516 million in taxes over the next 20 years.
This project is a well arranged public-private partnership which was awarded by the Department of Energy of South Africa.
The generated electricity will be supplied to Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Last week, another plant Medupi’s unit six came online with a capacity of 794MW, which will be fed into the South African national grid.
Medupi’s full capacity of four 764MW is expected to be online in 2019.
Abengoa is building the Khi Solar One, a 50MW solar plant using tower technology and another Xina Solar One project with a 100 MW parabolic trough plant.
Xina Solar One will be merged with KaXu Solar One the largest solar platform in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sabeena Wahid
editor@greentechlead.com