A consortium comprising Acwa Power, SENER, Acciona, TSK and Crowie plans to build a 50 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) project in South Africa. The Bokpoort power plant, estimated to cost 300 million euros, will have over 100 km of SENERtrough parabolic troughs and will employ a molten-salt heat storage system.
The project will be located near the city of Upington, in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. The location of the plant in the vicinity of the Kalahari Desert will take advantage of the excellent solar and environmental conditions of the remote area, according to the companies.
It will take 30 months to build and commission the plant. As the preferred bidder, Acwa will be responsible for securing the project’s financing from private financial institutions upon receiving approval and a guarantee of the energy’s sale to the South African government at a fixed rate over 20 years – a process that is already in its latter stages, with no foreseeable impediments.
This process is expected to last three months, after which time construction work may begin. Acwa Power notes that it has South African partners that can finance the project, including Solafrica and the government body, IDC.
