Engineering and technology group Sener showcased its active renewable-energy solutions at an event sponsored by the Spanish embassy in South Africa in Pretoria, Gauteng, last month.
Sener has been working in South Africa since 2013, when it started construction on the 50 MW Bokpoort thermosolar power plant, in Uppington, Northern Cape, a project for the Department of Energy (DoE) in which the company is participating as a member of the turnkey construction consortium.
Sener is responsible for the construction, commissioning and start-up of the power plant, which will begin commercial operation towards the end of this year.
The 50 MW Bokpoort power plant features Sener’s SENERtrough parabolic trough system, and a nine-hour molten salt storage system.
At the same time, Sener is working on a similar thermosolar plant for the DoE in Kathu, also located in Northern Cape. This is another turnkey construction project for a 100 MW plant using parabolic trough technology – in this case the power plant will boast the second-generation SENERtrough 2 parabolic trough system – and thermal energy storage capacity of 4.5 hours, by using molten salts.
Once in operation, in 2018, the Kathu solar plant will be capable of supplying electricity to 80 000 homes.
The company has 29 projects in its portfolio to date, most of them developed as turnkey projects in Morocco, South Africa, Spain and the US. In total, all these projects represent an installed capacity of more than 2 000 MW and carbon dioxide savings equivalent to one-million tons yearly.
The company has completed engineering and construction projects in a variety of sectors, including aerospace, power and process, infrastructure and transport, and the marine sector.
“Sener will be able to make a significant contribution to South African development, especially to its industrial and transport infrastructures. It has successfully completed projects in other African countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Mozambique,” said Sener president Jorge Sendagorta at the event.
He noted that, in all of these countries, Sener is keenly committed to the local community, a philosophy that generates local employment in construction and orders for area suppliers.
“Sener implements development and aid projects either alone, at the initiative of company professionals working in the country and with the corporate support of Sener, or in collaboration with other institutions and non-governmental organisations,” he stated, pointing out that this commitment was in keeping with the company’s founding philosophy, which sought to improve the lives of people through social projects.
In South Africa, Sener professionals have carried out a number of voluntary initiatives, he says, highlighting that, in Upington, the company has implemented a transport service for children and elderly people attending the Oasis Skills Development Centre for people with disabilities.
In addition, the Sener team has implemented a project that will provide the Kheis community in the Northern Cape with a computer lab that will offer Internet access to the community.
“It has also made donations towards the rehabilitation of housing, and organised drives for toys, clothes and shoes as well as motivational talks for young people, and other recreational and cultural activities,” he concluded.