A delegation, including members of the South African Government visited the 205 meter tall tower of Khi Solar One in the Northern Cape Province near Upington, where the national flag was raised next to those of the project partners.
Representatives of IDC, a major South African industrial development institution, Abengoa and the Khi Community Trust, an institution that represents the local community, accompanied the guests on a tour through the installation and some of the suppliers’ facilities.
Khi Solar One, a 50 MW superheated steam solar tower with two hours of thermal storage, represents an important technological advance in tower efficiency by using higher temperatures and an innovative dry cooling system, the company said in a written release.
This advancement is the result of the R & D work done by Abengoa in its research centers and pilot plants.
Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One, Abengoa’s 100 MW parabolic trough plant also in construction in the Northern Cape, will be the first concentrating solar power plants in operation in South Africa.
The South Africa Department of Energy intends to bring 17,800 MW online from renewable sources by 2030, framing South Africa’s strategy for energy independence. The solar projects form a part of this strategy, as well as have additional environmental benefits: creating roughly 1400 local construction jobs on average per annum, peaking near 2000, and about 70 permanent operation jobs, as well as reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 498,000 tons each year
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