The Xina Solar One project, in the Northern Cape, has passed a guaranteed production test in a record time of 16 months.
The project is jointly owned by Spanish technology solutions company Abengoa, South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation, the Public Investment Corporation and a community trust.
The guaranteed production period measures the production performance of the plant for 12 consecutive months in a 24-month period.
In this case, Abengoa had received the official confirmation of this milestone, after the mandatory analysis of the lender's technical adviser and the subsequent agreement of the lenders.
The 100 MW Xina project applies a new generation of parabolic trough collection technology, also manufactured by Abengoa. The Spacetube 8.2++ is the parabolic trough with biggest aperture in current commercialised applications, the company explains.
The project has also managed to achieve uninterrupted generation of more than five consecutive days, without interruptions during night time and in the summer months, thanks to its molten salt storage system that allows the production of electricity when there is no sun.
In addition to this, water consumption and auxiliary consumption have also been below the expected levels. In particular, the water consumption in the hydrologically sensitive area in which the project is based has drastically decreased after the first months of operation, reaching a ratio of 0.15 m3/MWh.