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while the World Bank and the African Develop- debt diplomacy, with Beijing exerting increased
ment Bank (AfDB) will support them. political influence in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in
Sinohydro is also adding 600 MW to the Africa in exchange for debt financing.
Hwange thermal power plant (TPP) at a cost of Zimbabwe’s operational generating capac-
$1.5bn, and 300 MW to the Kariba South HPP at ity currently stands at 1,300 MW, short of its
a cost of $533mn. 2,200-MW demand. Daily power outages have
Chinese backing for major power projects is hampered industrial capacity for almost two
accompanied by more Chinese debt on Zimba- decades.
bwe’s balance sheet. There are concerns that rely-
ing on Chinese money will usher in a new era of
RENEWABLES
ACWA Power’s Bokpoort sets
new production record
SOUTH AFRICA ACWA Power’s 50MW Bokpoort CSP project the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar
set a new winter production record in August park in Dubai.
2020, producing 21.7GWh, surpassing its previ- ACWA Power said that the ability of Bok-
ous winter record of 19.5GWh set in 2017. poort CSP to provide baseload power during a
Daily production reached a new high of time of load-shedding in South Africa showed
902MWh on August 31. Bokpoort CSP CEO the potential of CSP.
Christo Spammer said that this daily output Bokpoort’s storage capabilities meant that
made the CSP project equivalent in supply capa- what was previously non-dispatchable PV and
bilities to base-load technologies. wind output could now be fed into the grid on a
The Bokpoort CSP thermal storage facility constant, baseload basis.
enabled the plant to effectively support the grid South Africa’s latest Integrated Resource Plan
with power during the evening peak period, (IRP) commits a further 18GW of capacity for
while maintaining a peak hour load factor of PV and wind by 2030.
82%. ACWA Power said that falling battery costs
“Bokpoort has been consistently setting sev- are now increasing the competitiveness of PV
eral new records from the time the plant started plus storage, while CSP with storage remains
production: First the African record of 161 hours more economical over longer dispatch peri-
of continuous operations for a renewable energy ods and can offer baseload power generation,
plant, with non-stop day and night production in including ancillary services needed by the grid
March 2016, followed by a new summer month operator.
production record of 27.5GWh in January 2019,
and now achieving the new winter month record
as well,” said Bokpoort CSP chair Nandu Bhula.
Paddy Padmanathan, CEO of ACWA Power,
the lead shareholder in Bokpoort CSP, said: “it
is our fervent view that this technology remains
relevant to a country’s energy mix, in particular
the proven storage capability to enable the deliv-
ery of clean, reliable renewable energy, both
day and night on a dispatchable basis as well as
supporting the grid through ancillary services
capability”.
ACWA Power is a major operator of CSP pro-
ject. It runs the Noor Solar Complex in Ouarza-
zate Morocco, currently the largest complex in
the world with 550MW of capacity in operation
since 2018. It also operates the 950MW hybrid
(700MW CSP & 250MW PV) fourth phase of
Week 36 10•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
