The official ground breaking ceremony for the world’s largest thermal storage ever used for a solar power plant was held on September 25 in South Africa. Saudi firm ACWA Power International commenced construction of the Bokpoort CSP IPP in the Northern Cape’s Groblershoop.
The project, ACWA’s first in South Africa, will add 50 MW of green energy to the national grid. 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.
In just three years since ACWA decided to venture out past Saudi Arabia, the firm has stepped into Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa. ACWA Power chairman Mohammed Bin Abdullah Abunayyan said, “We have already started work on three major projects which represent a total of 800 MW in the pipeline and an investment commitment of [about $450 million] to date.” He added that over the next five years the company hoped to establish a larger portfolio to deliver 4 GW in these countries including conventional as well as renewable energy like hydropower, solar, and wind.
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