Construction of CSP plant to start in Northern Cape

2nd August 2013

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

Font size: - +

Construction of developer, owner and operator of independent water and power projects ACWA Power’s 50 MW Bokpoort concentrated solar power (CSP) independent power project (IPP) is proposed to start in the third quarter of 2013 on the Bokpoort farm, near Upington, in the Northern Cape.

The CSP IPP is expected to be complete in 2015, international consulting engineering company Royal HaskoningDHV senior environmental scientist Melissa Naidoo tells Engineering News.

The first wave of renewable-energy developments in South Africa commenced with the submission of numerous environmental authorisation applications for envisaged wind generation facilities (otherwise known as wind farms) to the national Department of Environmental Affairs. However, only a limited allocation for wind generation (1 850 MW) was provided for in the first phase of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme; thereafter, focus shifted towards the allocations made under the renewable-energy feed-in tariff for CSP (200 MW) and photovoltaic (1450 MW) developments.

Considering the above, Royal HaskoningDHV had been appointed as the independent environmental assessment practitioner (EAP) to facilitate and obtain some of the required environmental approvals, licences and permits for the CSP IPP development. In addition, Royal HaskoningDHV has also recently been appointed as the environmental control officer for construction, she notes.

The Bokpoort CSP IPP plant is based on a Spanish design and will be installed by an engineering, procurement and construction consortium lead by Spanish contractors. Compared with most CSP plants, which only have a storage capacity of up to three hours, the Bokpoort plant is quite unique in the sense that it can store eight to ten hours of electricity, Naidoo explains.

The CSP IPP project was developed by ACWA Power and local solar power development company ACWA Power SolAfrica Bokpoort CSP. This is ACWA Power’s third solar project and its second solar CSP project among its portfolio of 20 power generation and water desalination plants across eight countries.

The project will employ up to 600 people from the surrounding communities during construction and 53 people during its operation. Thirty per cent of the people employed during construction of the project will be previously disadvantaged individuals from the area, says Naidoo.

“For the inception phase of the project, which started in 2010, the company was appointed to undertake the environmental-impact assessment (EIA) and the environmental management plan for the proposed construction of the CSP plant. Royal HaskoningDHV also undertook a basic assessment for the construction of a pipeline for the abstraction of water from the Orange river and provided support in applying for the water-use authorisation from the Department of Water Affairs,” explains Naidoo.

“Parabolic trough technology tracks the suns rays in an east-west direction onto a thermally efficient linear receiver. Water is initially pumped into the system for the generation of electricity, which is initially extracted as thermal-energy by the solar collectors and stored in molten salt. The thermal energy is transferred to water with the purpose of generating preheated, evaporated and then superheated steam. The steam is utilised to turn a conventional steam turbine in the power block to generate kinetic energy, which is, in turn, converted to electrical energy. The system is designed around a highly efficient steam generation turbine to optimise electricity generation.

The remaining steam is then transported to a condenser, which cools the steam to form water. After being cooled and condensed by a cooling mechanism the water is returned to the heat exchangers. Additionally, a small amount of water is used to clean the mirrors of the solar panels,” she explains.

One of the key technology enhancements of this project is the large amount of energy storage, which ensures the plant can harvest energy while the sun is shining and release the power to the national grid for a period of eight to ten hours after the sun goes down, realizing the vision of creating solar electricity even at night.

Water for these aspects of the operation of the plant and for use during the construction phase will be pumped directly from the Orange river as stipulated in the water-use license.

Important considerations and challenges during the above processes were, amongst others, to have detailed engineering information available for the EIA report as well as to execute the EIA process in the shortest possible timeframe owing to competition amongst IPPs during the bidding process, Naidoo explains.

The availability of water for the power plant was also a critical consideration in terms of secure water allocations and ensuring that the design of the plant (more specifically the type of cooling) guaranteed the optimal use of water, whilst still achieving the desired generation output and, subsequently, profitability levels.

With regards to stakeholder and interested and affected parties’ involvement during the public participation process as required by the South African EIA regulations, the project team has observed that these parties are normally in support of renewable-energy developments and do not, in principle, object to these projects, she adds.

Naidoo notes that amendments to the project’s water-use licence had to be made, owing to the importance of the agricultural sector to the economy of the Upington area. Dependence on this source of water is, in turn, under added pressure, owing to environmental changes. The project was made more challenging because these different environmental components had to be merged in a sustainable way.

Naidoo notes that the EIA for the project began in 2010 with the obtaining of various authorisations, such as the water-use license, so that the project could proceed. The departments of Water Affairs, Environmental Affairs, Energy, and Minerals Resources, as well as the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), all had to approve it.

“The project also requires that several indigenous vegetation species be removed from the site. The Northern Cape DAFF needed to assist in determining the best way to remove the vegetation without harming the environment,” she says.

Naidoo notes that the consulting engineering industry in South Africa is focusing it efforts on addressing the need for alternative energy. She attributes this increase in projects to the growing requirement for sustainability and the growing number of energy-related projects.

The increase in projects, Naidoo notes, is driven by government-funded development projects as well as projects in the private sector. “The number of social development projects is also increasing, with several municipalities receiving funding from national empowerment funds and subsidising several community development projects,” highlights Naidoo.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION