Khi Solar One (KSO) is a

solar power tower A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or ' heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's r ...

solar thermal Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United S ...

power plant, located in the Northern Cape Region of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Khi Solar One is 50

megawatt 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 ...

s (MW), and is the first solar tower plant in Africa. It covers an area of . Abengoa claim it is the first thermal solar tower plant in Africa and the first tower plant to achieve 24 hours of operation with solar energy only, but that thanks to the decline in power demand at night, since full power storage lasts only 2 hours. The KSO is an evolution of the PS10 and

PS20 The PS20 solar power plant (PS20) solar power plant is a solar thermal energy plant in Sanlucar la Mayor near Seville in Andalusia, Spain. It was the world's most powerful solar power tower until the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California ...

projects, operating since 2007 and 2009 respectively in Spain. KSO solar field is made of more than 4,000 heliostats, totaling up to of mirror surface, focusing solar energy on a boiler located on top a centralized tower. KSO uses a superheated steam cycle that should be able to reach a maximum operating temperature of 530 °C. Accumulated saturated steam is also used to provide up to two hours of thermal storage at the plant. KSO condenser is cooled with a dry cooling system, a natural draft condenser that uses towers to distribute air across fin blades in order to dissipate heat. The project has been developed by the Spanish company

Abengoa Abengoa, S.A. was a Spanish multinational company in the green infrastructure, energy and water sectors. The company was founded in 1941 by Javier Benjumea Puigcerver and José Manuel Abaurre Fernández-Pasalagua, and was based in Seville, Sp ...

, and the project was financed with help from Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and community group, Khi Community Trust.

Accident

In November 2014, a crane collapse on site during construction killed two and injured seven. The accident was largely responsible for the project commencing commercial operation fourteen months later than scheduled.

Gallery

File:Khi Solar One.jpg, Khi Solar One, 50 MW, 180 GWh, solar power tower thermal plant File:KhiSolarOneBirdView.jpg, high oblique aerial photograph of Khi Solar One (Picture October 2016) File:Khi Solar One mirror detail.jpg, Detail of mirrors File:View from a plane Upington Airport to KhiSolarOne.jpg, Khi Solar One tower as seen from a plane just before landing at

Upington Airport Upington Airport is an airport located in Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa. At , runway 17/35 is one of the longest runways in the world. The high elevation of the airport, extremely high summer temperatures and the fact that it was desi ...

Abengoa Bankruptcy

In November 2015,

started insolvency proceedings. Khi Solar One is one of the assets which Abengoa could be looking to sell. On 27 December 2016, Abengoa received a “''Provisional Acceptance Certificate''”, officially handing the plant to its owner Khi Solar One Pty Ltd. Abengoa has a 51% stake, Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has a 29% stake and Khi Community Trust has a 20% stake in that society. Abengoa will take on the operation and maintenance of the plant. The plant output is sold to grid operator

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...

under a 20-year PPA (Power Purchase Agreement). Khi Solar One demonstrated in early 2016, up to 24 consecutive hours of operation.

References

{{Power in South Africa , state=expanded Solar thermal energy Solar power stations in South Africa Economy of the Northern Cape Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality

Accident

Gallery

Abengoa Bankruptcy

See also

References