South Africa’s Independent Power Producer (IPP) Procurement Programme has opened the country to private renewable energy investment, with 39 gigawatts of capacity planned to be built by 2030. Because of this, private companies have been able to build solar photovoltaic farms across the country, with the biggest reaching over 500 MW in capacity.
Even though South Africa has an abundance of sunshine, Eskom does not have any utility-scale solar installations.
Instead, all solar farms are operated by IPPs, who sell their electricity to Eskom as part of power-purchasing agreements.
The country has two main types of large solar plants — photovoltaic (PV) farms and concentrated solar power plants (CSPs).
Simply put, PV panels absorb the sun’s light energy, causing electrons to move and generating electrical current.
CSPs have numerous panels placed in a circle to direct heat energy from the sun to a central container with molten salt, which can boil water to generate steam and turn a turbine.
CSPs offer energy storage as an additional benefit but are substantially more expensive to build.
South Africa’s largest solar farm is the Scatec Kenhardt Solar Power Complex Station in the Northern Cape, with a total capacity of 540MW.
The entire site encompasses three 180MW solar plants — still the largest by capacity — spanning 879 hectares or ten kilometres from North to South. It took 2,600 workers and one million solar panels to construct.
In addition to the solar capacity, the solar complex also has 225MW of batteries and 1.1GWh of storage capacity, with one battery weighing 30 tonnes, roughly the size of a shipping container.
The second largest PV facility in the country is Solar Capital’s De Aar Project in the Northern Cape, which has been providing electricity to South Africa’s grid since March 2024.
The PV facility’s installed generating capacity is 175MW, enough to provide electricity to roughly 75,000 homes annually.
It has over half a million PV modules spread across 4.73km2. It took 28 months to construct and cost R4.8 billion, working out to R27.4 million per megawatt of capacity.
The next-biggest solar compound in South Africa comprises Dyason’s Klip 1 and 2 plants, which together produce up to 150MW of solar energy.
However, this is also split across two sites, each contracted to provide 75MW of generating capacity.
In fourth place, there are four solar plants, each with a capacity of 100MW: XiNa Solar One and Kaxu are in Pofadder, Karoshoek Solar One is in Upington, and Kathu Solar Park is in Kathu.
All of these plants are located in the Northern Cape.
This is a common location for solar plants as 19 of the 25 biggest solar power plants, according to maximum output, in South Africa are located there.
However, this presents a significant challenge for the country’s energy security, as substantial investment is required to upgrade the region’s transmission grid, which is now at capacity.
In December 2022, Krutham managing director for capital markets Peter Attard Montalto said the failure to allocate slots for 3.2GW of wind power through bid window six was related to a lack of grid capacity.
South Africa needs around R390 billion to upgrade and expand its transmission grid, according to Eskom chair Mteto Nyati and electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
This will allow the country to build sufficient transmission infrastructure, bring new energy projects online, ensure the country has surplus electricity, and enable the economy to grow over the next ten years.
| Solar plant | Generation capacity | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Scatec Kenhardt Solar Power Complex Station | 540 MW | Kenhardt, Northern Cape |
| Solar Capital De Aar | 175 MW | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Dyason’s Klip 1 and 2 | 150 MW | Upington, Northern Cape |
| XiNa Solar One | 100 MW | Pofadder, Northern Cape |
| Kaxu Solar One | 100 MW | Pofadder, Northern Cape |
| Karoshoek Solar One | 100 MW | Upington, Northern Cape |
| Kathu Solar Park | 100 MW | Kathu, Northern Cape |
Daniel Puchert, mybroadband.co.za
