Abengoa cuts ribbon on 50-MW CSP plant in S Africa

Aug 27, 2013 - Spanish group Abengoa (MCE:ABG) said Monday it had celebrated the end of construction of the 50-MW tower at the Khi Solar One concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in South Africa.

Abengoa is developing the project with South Africa-based Industrial Development Corp (IDC) and the Khi Community Trust.

Construction of the 205-metre (673-ft) tower, which also has two hours of thermal storage, began in November 2012. The facility will operate under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with local utility Eskom.

Abengoa is also working on the construction of the 100-MW KaXu Solar One CSP plant, also in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. The company was chosen as the preferred bidder in a tender launched by South Africa's Department of Energy in line the country's plans to have 17,800 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and to trim its dependence on oil and natural gas.

The Spanish firm is one of the few companies using both parabolic trough and tower technology, it noted. At present, it operates 21 CSP plants of 843 MW in total, and is building 810 MW more facilities at various locations.

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