Saudi company preferred bidder to develop the REDSTONE CSP IPP which at US$ 1.2 Billon is the biggest investment in the South African renewable energy programme.
A consortium led by ACWA Power, a leading water and power developer, owner and operator based on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and SolarReserve a leading global developer of utility-scale solar power projects has been awarded the right to develop the USD 1.2 billion Redstone Project – a 100 MW concentrating solar power (CSP). The project was developed in response to the DOE’s Round 3 (CSP) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) in South Africa. The Redstone Solar Thermal Power project, with the lowest tariff bid to date from any CSP project in the country, is scheduled to achieve financial close later in 2015 and commence operations in early 2018.
The Redstone Project will utilize solar power to generate and deliver reliable electricity on-demand day and night to power more than 200,000 homes with stable and predictable supply; it does this by capturing the heat of the sun (reflected by a field of mirrors pointing to a boiler mounted on a central tower) which is stored in the form of molten salt and then used as required to operate a steam turbine and generator.
Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of ACWA Power, said: “This Redstone Solar Project together with our 50 MW Bokpoort CSP project in South Africa and the Noor1, 160MW solar thermal power plant at Ouarzzate in Morocco, extends ACWA Power’s success in solar energy on the African continent. The Redstone Solar Project is another successful bid where we challenged ourselves to deliver the lowest tariff to date in the REIPPP programme for electricity generated wholly with solar power but dispatchable reliably both at day and night; again demonstrating ACWA Power’s commitment to reliably deliver electricity at the lowest possible cost. All aspects of the project, from development phase to construction and then operations, have been structured to ensure maximization of value retention in not just only the South African economy, but also within the local economy of Northern Cape Province recognizing the intrinsic value in co-developing local people along with this asset which will co-exist with the local community for decades to come”
The project will have a significant positive socio-economic development impact on the surrounding community and the country as a whole. During the peak of construction and the operating phases of the project, more than 800 direct jobs during the construction phase comprised of craft workers on site and will also create significant additional jobs related to equipment supply, manufacturing, engineering, transportation and other services. Over 40% of the total project value will be provided by South African suppliers – a portion of which will support BBBEE activities.
Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer, ACWA Power, said: “ACWA Power is also particularly pleased to yet again lead in the field of project financing by structuring this innovative tower technology based solar power project with limited resource project finance for the first time in the world. The Redstone Project marks another significant milestone in ACWA Power’s target of adding renewable energy capacity to its multi-fuel portfolio of assets capable of generating15.5 GW of electricity and producing 2.4 million cubic meters of desalinated water”
The project will also off-set approximately 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide which would have been emitted into the atmosphere if this amount of power was generated using fossil fuels.
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