Trade ministers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia have attended a ceremony to inaugurate the 55MW Bokpoort concentrated solar power (CSP) project in the Northern Cape province.
The ZAR5bn plant has been developed by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power and has more than nine hours of thermal storage capacity.
It is the first in a series of investments in the power sector that the company is making in South Africa.
ACWA Power is soon to start construction of the 100MW Redstone CSP project and is awaiting the outcome of tender submissions for a 150MW CSP plant, both of which are also in Northern Cape.
Bokpoort has been developed as part of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff Procurement Programme.
The tariff offered by ACWA Power at the second procurement window was 12% lower than the cap set by government for CSP technology at that round.
ACWA Power chairman Mohammad Abunayyan said: “We see this as the start of an enduring partnership with South Africa to augment the foundation for economic growth and social development.”
Image: Bokpoort CSP (ACWA Power)
