South Africa added power from KaXu Solar One to the mix on March 2. The project, which is the first solar thermal electricity (STE) plant in South Africa, is the largest of its kind in Africa and the southern hemisphere.
KaXu will add 100MWof electricity from solar to the national grid, which is equal to about 320 GW hours of electricity a year.
“This is equal to the consumption of 80,000 houses, so serving more than 400,000 South Africans. In practical terms, this is the consumption of all the households in Mossel Bay, Oudshoorn, Knysna and Swellen dam combined,” said Ebrahim Patel, the economic development minister, who was speaking at the opening of KaXu Solar One outside Pofadder.
The plant covers an area of 3 sq km. It is made up of 17nbsp;200 collectors; each collector has 10 modules; each module has 28 mirrors. There are a total of 336,000 mirrors on the plant. More importantly, STE technology allows electricity to be stored for 2.5 hoursmeaning power will be supplied to the national grid when it is needed most, at peak time after dark.
KaXu is the largest parabolic trough project in the southern hemisphere, according to Javier Benjumea, the president of Abengoa Solar International Advisory Board. “It will generate power when the sun has set. It also offers increased flexibility in terms of storage. It offers the same electricity without carbon emissions and that is a game changer.”