Photo by: Abengoa
Spanish technology group Abengoa has announced that it has been awarded a $25-million contract by South Africa’s State-owned electricity utility Eskom for the construction of two 400 kV transmission lines spanning 174 km.
The company, which is building large-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in the Northern Cape, said the most recent award represented its first power transmission contract in South Africa.
The project is expected to reach commercial operation in 2017.
Abengoa would be responsible for the engineering, design, construction and commissioning of the two lines, which extend from the Medupi substation in the Lephalale region of South Africa’s Limpopo province to the Borutho substation in the Mokopane region of Limpopo.
Eskom has been building the 4 764 MW Medupi coal-fired power station in Lephalale since 2007 and the first 794 MW unit entered commercial operation during August. The other five units at the project, which is over budget and years behind schedule, are currently forecast to be introduced in stages between 2017 and 2019.
The award, Abengoa said, consolidated its presence in the generation and transmission sectors in South Africa, with the 50 MW Khi and 100 MW Xina CSP plants under construction and the 100 MW Kaxu CSP plant in production.