Saudi firm leads consortium to develop project in South Africa
A consortium led by ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia and Solar Reserve of the US has been awarded the right to develop the 1.2 billion Redstone Project a 100 MW concentrating solar power generation utilizing central tower technology at the Northern Cape Province South Africa.
'The Redstone Project is another successful bid where we challenged ourselves to deliver the lowest tariff delivered to date in the REIPPP program for electricity generated wholly with solar power but dispatchable reliably both day and night' said Paddy Padmanathan ACWA Power president and CEO.
He said that the project will demonstrate ACWA Power's commitment to reliably deliver electricity at the lowest possible cost.
'We have also structured all aspects of the project from development base to construction and then operations to ensure maximization of value retention in not just only the South African economy but also within the local economy of Northern cape Province' he said.
The project will utilize solar power to generate and deliver reliable electricity on demand day and night to power approximately 210000 homes with stable predictable supply by capturing the heat of the sun stored in the form of molten salt and then used as required to operate a steam turbine and generator.
The project will have a significant positive socio-economic development impact on the surrounding community and the country as a whole.
During the peak construction and the operating phases of the project around 800 and 70 jobs respectively are expected to be created.
Around ZAR 2.8 billion will be spent on local content during the construction period alone.
The project is also committed to spend approximately ZAR500 million in socio-economic and enterprise development initiatives during its 20-year operational life.
The project will also offset approximately 500000 tons of carbon dioxide which would have been emitted into the atmosphere if this amount of power was generated using fossil fuels.