Bokpoort CSP is a
concentrated solar power
Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated when ...
(CSP)
thermal energy
The term "thermal energy" is used loosely in various contexts in physics and engineering. It can refer to several different well-defined physical concepts. These include the internal energy or enthalpy of a body of matter and radiation; heat, d ...
power plant, located near
Groblershoop
Groblershoop is a settlement in ZF Mgcawu District Municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about 2 km west of the Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in ...
in the
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...
province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. The project was procured pursuant to the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) program initiated by the South African Department of Energy.
The Bokpoort Plant has a thermal molten salt storage capacity of 1‚300 MWh
t equivalent to around 9.3 hours full load generation. The plant synchronised for the first time on the South African Grid in November 2015, after a construction period of 29 months.
History
On 23 September 2013 the groundbreaking ceremony for the commencement of construction at the Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power plant was held in the presence of ACWA Power Chairman Mohammad Abunayyan, Mayor Paul Vries and other dignitaries in Groblershoop, South Africa.
Power developer ACWA Power Solafrica’s Bokpoort concentrated solar power (CSP) plant reached full operation capacity, ahead of schedule, in December 2015.
On 16 March 2016 Trade Ministers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia jointly inaugurated the Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Project, marking the official launch of the billion ($ million) project.
The South African solar power plant has set a new African record (25 March 2016) for the continuous, round the clock supply of renewable electricity for 161 hours.
On 29 April 2021 Revego Africa Energy Limited announced a 12 percent stake in the plant, for million ($14.8 million). Revego is buying the stake from
Métier
Métier, Limited is a project portfolio management (PPM) company founded in 1998. Métier develops project portfolio management (PPM) software. The company is headquartered in Healdsburg, California.
Company
Métier develops, manufacturers and ...
, a South Africa private equity firm, who manages the Lereko Metier Sustainable Capital fund.
Technology
Bokpoort CSP has a gross capacity of 55
megawatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
(MW) and 50 MW net. The solar field covers an area of less than . With its 8600 solar collector elements (SCE) the solar field captures the solar energy. Through the heat transfer fluid (HTF) circulating through large steam generators, the energy is transformed into steam at 103.6 bar and 380 °C. The 50MWe conventional steam turbine will then use the steam flow to generate electricity and two molten salt tanks will store excess heat energy for conversion into electric energy after sunshine hours.
Energy storage
One remarkable feature of the plant is the large
energy storage
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production.
A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery.
Energy comes in ...
capability. It is the world’s first commercial utility-scale CSP plant to have more than nine hours of storage, which provide the ability to deliver power well after sunset or when power demand is highest, effectively making it a peaking power plant. Bokpoort CSP Owners led by
ACWA Power
ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants currently with presence in 10 countries including in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and Sout ...
International (Saudi Arabia) describes this system as the largest thermal storage system ever built for a CSP plant of its size and capacity.
The Bokpoort thermal energy storage consists out of one hot and one cold storage tank (each 40 m diameter and 14 m height) filled with 39,100 tons of environmental friendly
molten salt
Molten salt is salt which is solid at standard temperature and pressure but enters the liquid phase due to elevated temperature. Regular table salt has a melting point of 801 °C (1474°F) and a heat of fusion of 520 J/g.[< ...]
(
potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...
and
sodium nitrate
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. T ...
).
Solar field
The solar field consists out of 180 loops grouped into 8 sub-fields with a total of 8600 SCEs using SENER Trough Technology with Flabeg Glass Mirrors. There are in total 241,920 mirrors installed which have a total of 658,000 m2 of reflective surface.
Construction
The plant was built, starting in September 2013, by the EPC consortium of Spanish companies
Acciona
Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energy, produces 21 te ...
,
SENER
SENER is a private engineering and technology group founded in 1956, and specialises in activities related to Engineering and Construction, and has industrial holdings in companies working in the areas of energy, environment and aeronautics.
SEN ...
and TSK and South Africa’s Crowie.
During peak construction period the project employed more than 1300 persons on site.
Local content and skills transfer
Total estimated local value add (in ZAR) in form of local content and employment in South Africa was more than billion ($ million), which equals about 41% of total project investment.
# Main SA manufacturers
#* Gauteng – HTF Expansion / Overflow Vessels
#* Upington – Salt Tanks (Thermal Storage)
#* Gauteng / Cape Town – Torque Tubes, Pylons for Solar Field
#** Approx. 8160 tonnes of steel for all Torque Tube
#** Approx. 1200 tonnes of steel for all Pylons
# Main SA Pre-Assemblers and On-site Assemblers
#* Upington – HTF Solar field piping
#* Upington – HCE Stainless steel piping
#* Northern Cape – HP Power Block Piping
#* On Site – Solar Collector Elements (7500)
# Total estimated training performed 50,000 hours
#* Safety training – 20%
#* Small tools use – 20%
#* On job training and skill-specific training – 60% (scaffold use, foundation erection, welding setup, electrical cable pulling and termination)
Socio-economic and community development
Bokpoort CSP became well known not only in the Northern Cape but also on national level for its innovative socio-economic and community development projects across pre-defined objectives such as education, self-sustainability, community well-being. Among other the following projects closely developed and implemented with the
!Kheis Municipality and its communities:
# Duineveldt Solar Lighting; one of the key challenges identified by the !Kheis Municipality, in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), is the lack of electricity to households
# Palms Technical Training Centre; it became Bokpoort CSP's partner to train community members to provide basic skills for the CSP project or to prepare them to enroll in vocational training schools, which allows them to acquire specialist skills in power plant construction or maintenance environments.
# Topline Water Reticulation; provision of clean drinking water to Topline community residents''.''
#
![20160226 110259 Northern Cape Premier&Apprentices](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/20160226_110259_Northern_Cape_Premier%26Apprentices.jpg)
Various Apprenticeship Programs
#!Kheis loveLife Y-Centre
Inauguration and commercial operation
Power developer ACWA Power Solafrica's Bokpoort concentrated solar power (CSP) plant reached full operation capacity – ahead of schedule in December 2015. ACWA Power Southern Africa Managing Director
Chris Ehlers points out that the coordination between the owner, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor and Eskom, as well as other key partners, has been key in synchronising Bokpoort CSP slightly ahead of time with the national grid.
Inauguration
On 16 March 2016 Trade Ministers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia jointly inaugurated the Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Project, marking the official launch of the billion ($ million, 2016 exchange rate) project. South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister, Mr.
Rob Davies and Dr.
Tawfig Fawzan Alrabiah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce & Trade officiated at the ceremony, at the site, which will provide enough power to supply more than 200,000 homes.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Davies said the Bokpoort project is the largest investment by a Saudi company, ACWA Power and needs to be celebrated as it instills confidence in government’s long-term infrastructure roll out and also strengthens relations between the two countries. "This project has a major socio-economic development impact for the Northern Cape and South Africa. Through the bid window process the overall prices of energy have become very competitive. The design of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Program (REIPPP) is intended to leverage the investment in the energy sector to contribute to industrialization of the local economy," said Davies.
Commercial operation
The CEO for Bokpoort CSP, Mr Ryno Lacock was proud to announce that on 27 November 2017, the plant clocked production of 1009.31 MWh in a single day. This is the highest production ever over a single 24 hour period. The previous record was 999.13 MWh on 28 November 2016 which fell just short of the "Sweet Spot" of 1000 MWh per day which is equivalent to 20 hours of full load operations (with a 50MW turbine and a 9.3 hour storage system) akin to base-load technologies.
Financing
In December 2020, ''Afrik21.africa'' reported that ''Acwa Power Solafrica Bokpoort'', the SPV company that owns and operates the power station had refinanced the power station to the tune of ZAR:5 billion (US$334 million). The long list of lenders in the
syndicated loan
A syndicated loan is one that is provided by a group of lenders and is structured, arranged, and administered by one or several commercial banks or investment banks known as lead arrangers.
The syndicated loan market is the dominant way for larg ...
included: (1)
Investec Bank
Investec is an Anglo-South African international banking and wealth management group. It provides a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
Investec is dual-listed on the London ...
(2)
Absa Group Limited
Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...
(3)
Rand Merchant Bank
FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, ...
(4) Omsfin (5)
Sanlam
Sanlam is a South African financial services group headquartered in Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa. Sanlam is the largest insurance company in Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the ...
and (6) Futuregrowth.
Awards winning project
![PFI-Bokpoort Awards Feb 2014 3a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/PFI-Bokpoort_Awards_Feb_2014_3a.jpg)
In 2014 Thomson Reuters’ Project Finance International (PFI) awarded the title "Renewable Deal of the Year for the Middle East and Africa region" to the 50MW Bokpoort concentrated solar power (CSP) project developed by the ACWA Power consortium.
The South African National Energy Association has announced ACWA Power SolAfrica Bokpoort CSP plant as the Best Energy Project of the Year 2016 on 16 September at the SANEA / SANEDI Awards ceremony in Sandton. The 50MW CSP plant in Northern Cape was considered as the industry’s pioneering project in the renewable energy sector. The project was also recognised as the industry benchmark for utilizing renewable energy deployment for socio-economic development through focused investment in local community development.
See also
*
List of solar thermal power stations
This is a list of the largest facilities generating electricity through the use of solar thermal power, specifically concentrated solar power.
Operational
Under construction
Announced
Cancelled
Decommissioned
* Eurelios pi ...
*
List of power stations in South Africa
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of energy storage projects
This is a list of energy storage power plants worldwide, other than pumped hydro storage.
Many individual energy storage plants augment electrical grids by capturing excess electrical energy during periods of low demand and storing it in oth ...
*
ACWA Power
ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants currently with presence in 10 countries including in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and Sout ...
References
{{Power in South Africa , state=expanded
Solar thermal energy
Solar power stations in South Africa
Economy of the Northern Cape
Energy storage projects
Community development