Built 20km south of Kimberly in the Northern Cape Province, the Droogfontein 2 solar power plant is expected to produce enough energy to power about 45,000 South African homes.
The 86MW project was awarded during the fourth bid round of the government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer (IPP) Procurement Program, and represents 20% of the total solar projects awarded in this round.
SunEdison Africa general manager Enrique Collado said: "South Africa is one of the most attractive solar markets in the world, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Energy in future rounds of the Renewable Energy IPP procurement program, which is expected to deliver an incremental 6.3 gigawatts of projects."
Power generated from the project is scheduled to be sold to the South African national utility, Eskom, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
SunEdison Services will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the power plant.
Since 2011, SunEdison has installed 130MW of utility scale solar power in South Africa.
The Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Program aims to contribute to the government’s target of 3,725MW
