Concentrated Solar Power, South Africa

Located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa where sunshine rates are good all year round, this project reduces greenhouse gas emissions though a grid-connected parabolic trough concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plant. This provides clean, safe, sound and emission-free energy to displace electricity generated from the predominantly coal-fired South African electricity grid.

The power plant has a maximum net generation capacity of 50MW electrical energy. The plant includes a thermal storage system capable of delivering up to 9 hours of stored energy for continued power generation. With the extended operating profile afforded by thermal energy storage, the plant produces, on average, approximately 224 GWh of electricity per annum.

In addition to delivering emissions reductions to tackle climate action (SDG 13), the project delivers a number of other benefits including:

• Affordable and Clean Energy: South Africa has a target for the renewable power share of electricity generation to be 9% by 2030, but aims for 42% of new generation capacity installed between 2010 and 2030 to come from renewables. This project helps the country move towards that target.
• Decent Work and Economic Growth: The operational phase of the solar power plant created approximately 50 job opportunities. This includes approximately 20 unskilled jobs, 20 moderately-skilled jobs and 10 highly skilled jobs.