Page 9 - AfrElec Week 44 2020
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AfrElec METERING AfrElec
meter manufacturing, assembly, and deploy- regulations to be refunded through energy cred-
ment capacity. its over a period not exceeding five years.
The programme is intended to support Nige- The payment for meters by customers
ria’s economic recovery efforts by creating more through upfront payments or a monthly meter
jobs in the local meter value chain and reducing service charge as provided in the subsisting MAP
collection losses, as well as increasing financial regulation will end.
flows to achieve 100% market remittance obli- Metering is a key problem across Africa, with
gations of the discos. many slum areas or rural customers relying on
The programme requires all discos to fully estimated billing, which is inaccurate and pushes
meter all their customers. This is part of the gov- up non-payment rates. It also leads to more theft
ernment’s drive to raise revenues in the power of power, which places extra strain on local net-
sector. works, again causing power cuts and poor supply
The NMMP allows customers who had quality.
earlier paid for meters under previous MAP
RENEWABLES
SA’s Bokpoort CSP plant
breaks round-the-clock record
SOUTH AFRICA SAUDI Arabia’s ACWA Power said that its Bok- to October 2020, in relation to the Production
poort CSP plant in South Africa had become the Simulation Model that sets the design expecta-
first renewable facility in Africa to complete a full tions of the Bokpoort CSP plant. The fact that
week of continuous round-the-clock operation. this performance was achieved during a global
The Bokpoort CSP operated for 13 days (312 pandemic amidst national lockdown protocols,
hours) until October 23, 2020, the company said, and where the COVID-19 virus had impacted
almost double the previous record set in March site operations and affected deployment restric-
2016. tions, is phenomenal,” Spammer added.
The performance meant that the plant could The plant has a history of breaking records. In
now be regarded as a baseload power supply, August, the CSP plant set a new winter produc-
able to supply the grid constantly whatever the tion record, producing 21.7GWh, surpassing its
weather. previous winter record of 19.5GWh set in 2017.
This plant operated its salt storage system an ACWA Power is a major operator of CSP pro-
average of 9.3 hours per night, which allowed for ject. It runs the Noor Solar Complex in Ouarzaz-
a smooth transition to solar every morning. ate in Morocco, currently the largest complex in
“We take utmost pride in this record-break- the world with 550MW of capacity in operation
ing effort that successfully delivered 312 hours since 2018. It also operates the 950MW hybrid
of continuous operations, which translate to (700MW CSP and 250MW PV) fourth phase of
approximately 13GWh of energy supply to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar
the grid at an energy load factor of 83%. This Park in Dubai.
is remarkable for a renewable energy facility South Africa’s latest Integrated Resource Plan
and is equivalent to about 20 hours of full load (IRP) commits a further 18GW of capacity for
operations daily (with a 50MW turbine) akin to PV and wind by 2030.
base-load technologies,” said Christo Spammer, ACWA Power said that the ability of Bok-
Bokpoort CSP CEO. poort CSP to provide baseload power during a
The 50MW concentrated solar power (CSP) time of load-shedding in South Africa showed
plant with thermal storage was commissioned the potential of CSP.
during the second bidding window of South Falling battery costs are now increasing the
Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power competitiveness of PV plus storage, the com-
Producer Programme (REIPPP), and has oper- pany said, while CSP with storage remains more
ating since 2016. economical over longer dispatch periods and
“The consistency and reliability of the plant can offer baseload power generation, including
performance is evident from its 101.2% cumu- ancillary services needed by the grid operator.
lative production performance from June 2020
Week 44 05•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
