A consortium led by a unit of Spain’s Acciona and South Africa’s Aveng has plugged 94 megawatts of renewable electricity capacity into South Africa’s power grid, the companies said on Friday, providing some relief to the ailing system.
The Sishen solar plant, Africa’s largest, has enough capacity to power up to 100,000 households.
“We reached the commercial phase of operation of the plant last month, we are currently delivering all the energy to the system,” chief executive of Acciono Energia Rafael Mateo told Reuters.
Eskom, struggling to keep up with rising demand, indicated this week that the power grid will continue to be tight until new power stations are completed.
It has implemented rolling blackouts as it cut demand by as much as 4,000 MW, about 10 percent of country’s capacity.
Sishen solar power, which will be sold to Eskom, is part of a project that allows the private sector to contribute as much as 3,725 megawatts to the grid through renewable energy projects by the end of 2016.
Mateo said it was important for Eskom to encourage renewable energy production as solar and wind farms are faster to build than the coal-intensive power plants that currently dominate the energy market.
“Renewable energy is a very good idea for Eskom to solve at least their short term needs,” he said.
The company is constructing a wind farm in Cape Town expected to be completed in June of next year with a capacity of 138 megawatts and another solar plant in the Northern Cape province, Mateo said.
Acciono Energia is looking to expand in African countries such as Morocco, Botswana, Mozambique and Kenya. (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
Via: New solar plant linked up to South Africa’s struggling power grid | News by Country | Reuters.