Name and Location
Xina Solar One parabolic trough plant project, Northern Cape, South Africa.
Client
Abengoa (40%), with the balance of the project being held by the Industrial Development Corporation, the Public Investment Corporation and the KaXu Community Trust.
Project Description
The project involves the development of a 100 MW parabolic trough plant, with a five-hour thermal energy storage system using molten salts. This project will form the largest solar complex in Africa, together with Abengoa’s plant KaXu Solar One project, currently under construction in the country.
Parabolic trough technology employs parabolic-shaped mirrors that are set on a structure so that they can track the movement of the sun and concentrate solar radiation onto a receiving tube. Inside the tube, a heat-absorbing fluid flows and reaches high temperatures. This fluid transfers the thermal energy to a heat exchanger that heats water into steam, which ultimately drives a turbine to generate electricity.
The plant also uses thermal energy storage technology that, with a set of thermal storage tanks filled with molten salts, enables the plant to generate electricity after the sun sets or during transitory cloudy periods, in addition to being able to adapt energy production to the peaks of demand.
Xina Solar One will produce clean energy equivalent to power an estimated 95 000 households, thus preventing the emission of 348 000 t/y of carbon dioxide.
The construction, operation and maintenance of the plant will stimulate regional socioeconomic development by creating numerous direct and indirect jobs, as well as a supply chain that will foster economic growth.
The project has been selected as one of 17 preferred bidders in the third round of the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
Value
The total investment in the Xina project is expected to be $880-million.
Duration
Not stated.
Latest Developments
The Xina concentrated solar power plant has successfully reached financial close.
Mott MacDonald was lenders’ technical adviser during the project’s financing and is now monitoring construction in an ongoing role. During the technical due diligence phase, Mott MacDonald undertook technical, environmental, social and permitting reviews, as well as solar resource, energy yield and site assessments. The consultancy also reviewed the project’s financial model and implementation schedule, as well as power purchase, engineering, procurement and construction, as well as operation and maintenance agreements. Mott MacDonald will now monitor the project’s progress against the baseline construction schedule and budget.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
Abeinsa (construction) and Mott MacDonald (technical adviser).
On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.
Contact Details for Project Information
Abengoa communications department, Patricia Malo de Molina Meléndez, tel +34 954 93 71 11 or
email communication@abengoa.com.
Abeinsa, tel +34 954 93 70 00 or email abeinsa@abengoa.com.
Mott MacDonald, Tom Smith, tel +44 20 8774 2205 or email tom.smith@mottmac.com.