The facility will feature a energy storage system with a capacity of 1MW / 4MWh, and a 3.5 MW solar photovoltaic plant
Render of the microgrid that Abengoa will built in South Africa. (Credit: Abengoa)
Spanish company Abengoa has secured a contract from vanadium energy storage solutions provider Bushveld Energy to build a hybrid microgrid power plant in South Africa.
Under the contract, the company will be responsible for the construction of a solar power plant integrated by an energy storage system.
The facility will feature a energy storage system with a capacity of 1MW / 4MWh, and a 3.5 MW solar photovoltaic plant. The storage system will use Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB BESS).
The plant will be located in the Vametco Alloys mine which is owned by Bushveld Minerals in the North West province of South Africa. It is expected to contribute to the company’s energy autonomy.
The photovoltaic solar plant and the energy storage system are expected to reduce the emissions of more than 114,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere over 20 years.
The project is Abengoa’s fourth project in South Africa using solar plus storage. In addition, it will also be the first ‘MW scale’ hybrid power plant for a mine in South Africa.
Enerox Holdings, a subsidiary of Bushveld, will provide the VRFB BESS system for the project.
The project is part of Bushveld’s strategy to promote the role of vanadium in the growing global energy storage market through VRFB BESS.
Abengoa stated: “This project is an important milestone for Abengoa, which has installed the world´s largest fleet of thermal energy storage (which exceeds 6,000 MWht), and now is installing the world´s largest hybrid solar plant incorporating vanadium.
“With such a flagship reference, Abengoa consolidates its global reputation as a one-stop-shop storage provider, with lithium, vanadium and molten salt storage.”