Scheduled to be built in Postmasburg, near Kimberley, in Northern Cape, the Redstone solar thermal power project will feature SolarReserve’s molten salt energy storage technology and is expected to achieve financial close later this year.
The power plant, which is scheduled to commence operations in early 2018, has been developed in response to the DOE’s third round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
The 100MW project will deliver a stable electricity supply to meet the needs of more than 200,000 South African homes during peak demand periods.
SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith said: "Due to the fully integrated thermal energy storage, the plant will provide dispatchable power on-demand, just like conventional coal, oil, nuclear or natural gas-fired power plants, but without the harmful emissions or hazardous materials and without any fuel cost.
"In addition, the project’s delivered electricity price is the lowest of any Concentrating Solar Power project in the country to date."
Expected to create more than 800 direct jobs during the construction phase, the project would generate more than ZAR6bn rand ($520mn) of income tax over its first 20 years of operation.
ACWA Power chief investment officer Rajit Nanda said: "The Redstone Project marks another significant milestone in ACWA Power’s target of adding renewable energy capacity to its multi-fuel portfolio of assets capable of generating 15.5 gigawatts of electricity and producing 2.4 million cubic meters of desalinated water."
