Located in the town of Kathu, in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province, this project makes up part of the 2010 IRP (Integrated Resource Program) National Electricity Plan, and will provide an increase in the country’s generation capacity until it reaches 86.8 GW in 2030, of which 24% will be renewable. It should be noted that South Africa receives an average solar radiation of over 2,500 hours per year and the average daily rate is between 4.5 and 6.5 kWh/sqm, making solar energy one of the key pillars of the country’s future energy supply system.
SENER and ACCIONA will carry out the engineering, construction management and commissioning of the plant until its turnkey delivery. What’s more, SENER is supplying the main technology of the facility, among it the SENERtrough®-2 parabolic trough. The 100 MW plant will begin operations in 2018 and will be able to supply electricity to 80,000 homes.
Currently, the building consortium has started construction works, after performing the required basic engineering. For those works, it will use local suppliers, as the project is fully committed to the local community. Commercial operation of the plant is expected in 2018.
This is the second solar thermal project in South Africa where both companies are working together, the first being the 50 MW Bokpoort plant (Upington), recently inaugurated, and in which they also form part of the building consortium. This is also a turnkey project that uses SENERtrough® technology and a molten salt storage system.
With 60 years of history, SENER is a private engineering and technology group founded in 1956. It seeks to offer its clients the most advanced technological solutions and enjoys international recognition, thanks to its independence and its commitment to innovation and quality. SENER has a workforce of nearly 6,000 professionals at its facilities in four continents and the group’s turnover exceeds €1.305 billion (2014 data). In total, SENER has been involved in 29 solar plants, most of them turnkey projects, in Spain, the USA, South Africa, and Morocco, which together represent an installed capacity of more than 2,000 MWe and CO2 savings equivalent to one million tons annually. This confirms the company’s position as a leader in the solar thermal energy market, both in the number of projects in its portfolio and because of the technological solutions it has developed. Some of its projects are veritable technological milestones, such as Gemasolar and Valle 1 and Valle 2, in Spain, and the NOORo complex in Morocco, where SENER also forms parts of the building consortium for NOORo 1, NOORo II and NOORo III. www.sener-group.com
ACCIONA is a global leader in sustainable solutions for infrastructure and renewable energy projects. Its expertise covers the entire value chain from research and development and design to the construction, operation and maintenance of projects. The Company posted revenues of €6.5 billion in 2015, is present in more than 30 countries, where its business activities seek to contribute to the economic and social progress of the communities in which it operates. ACCIONA aims to lead the transition to a low-carbon economy by investing in innovation and adopting processes and quality standards that optimise the use of resources and protect the environment in all its business activities. ACCIONA is a pioneer in solar thermal power and has built 11 CSP plants around the world totalling 628 MW in capacity. ACCIONA’s inaugural CPS plant, Nevada Solar One, commissioned in 2007, was the first large-scale CSP plant built in the United States in 20 years. It led to a resurgence in the technology worldwide.
