According to East Africa Report, South African government joined project developers and financiers to officially open South Africa’s first solar thermal electric power plant near Pofadder in the Northern Cape. The Department of Energy commissioned KaXu Solar One commercial operation with the objective of meeting the country’s energy needs in a sustainable and reliable manner.
The 20-year power purchase agreement was signed by project developers and financiers including Spanish technology solutions provider Abengoa, state-owned financier the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as well as the KaXu community Trust.
The innovative design and technology includes a storage system that enables the production of 100MW for 2.5 hours. The project will raise an estimated $891 million (ZAR10 billion) through direct and indirect investment.
IDC chief executive, Geoffrey Qhena, has said: “The project is based on a strong public-private sector partnership and forms part of our [IDC] efforts to support Government’s initiatives to introduce alternative sources of energy into the country’s energy mix as contemplated in the integrated resources plan.”