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Marketing Brochure for ACWA Power Solafrica Bokpoort CSP Power Plant
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F E A T U R E
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ACWA Power Solafrica Bokpoort CSP Power Plant
ACWA Power Solafrica Bokpoort CSP Power Plant
The result of a joint venture between
ACWA Power and Solafrica, the
Bokpoort development won the
second CSP bidding window of South
Africa's Renewable Energy Independent
Power Producer Programme (REIPPP). With a
projected commercial operation date of 6
December 2015, work has progressed
rapidly, with construction now having past
the peak.
As an emerging market utility company
with more than 16,000MW in operation or
construction, ACWA Power develops, owns
and operates a range of power and water
assets around the globe, with the Southern
Cone of Africa being a key strategic growth
market. At the forefront of this is the
Bokpoort facility, which is set to be the
only storable renewable energy facility with
utility-scale “load-following” capability,
due to its 9.3 hours thermal energy storage
capacity, in the region.
“It's been fantastic so far. We had some
issues with regards to the national metal
industry strike that has caused some
delays, but apart from that we've been
doing reasonably well with the progress,”
says Nandu D Bhula, CEO of ACWA Power
Solafrica Bokpoort CSP.
“I think, the biggest challenge we have had
to overcome, was the ability to get local
skills to the level that is expected in order
to be productively employed and meet our
socio-economic development objectives.
We do have tough economic development
obligations, and the initial hurdle was to
get around that,” he continues. “But we
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ACWA Power Solafrica Bokpoort CSP Power Plant
ACWA Power Solafrica Bokpoort CSP Power Plant
successfully did, and we are doing
reasonably well in terms of getting a very
large proportion of our workforce from the
local community, the !Kheis Municipality.”
The skills shortage in South Africa has,
unsurprisingly, presented some issues
during the construction phases of the
project. “On the one hand, you're trying to
fulfil an economic development obligation
and have a large proportion of the local
community involved, but on the other
hand, they don't necessarily have the skill
sets at this stage for this type of
construction and subsequent operations.
It's a very rural community,” explains
Bhula. “Difficulties finding the necessary
skill sets nearby meant greater effort in
on-the-job training and focus in upskilling
through sponsoring technical training
courses at the existing local training
center.”
“The language barrier was also challenge.
The EPC contractor and their supervision
staff speak mainly Spanish, so it's difficult
to communicate and develop the staff that
is largely Afrikaans speaking. From a health
and safety supervision perspective, it has
been a challenge for us,” he explains.
“We've put effort into having multilingual
presentations done, and bringing in local
health and safety individuals who
understand the local legislations and then
we've shared that from a management level
down to the supervision. We've had to use
different types of media to spread health
and safety messages,” he continues. “That
includes setting up things like animated
story books that have specific site safety
www.acwapower.com
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messages in it. So we've complemented our
multilingual communication efforts with
pictorial tutoring; and that has aided us in our
efforts.”
Once completed, the plant will have the largest
amount of thermal energy storage in the world
in its class. “We've got heat transfer fluid
travelling around 180 loops of solar field with
658,000m2 of reflective surface or mirrors,
with a large quantity of molten salt storage
which is new for this country in terms
technology. So, from that perspective, I think it
is very important that we have really well-
trained operators to mitigate the risks in terms
of managing the operation and maintenance of
the plant,” explains Bhula.
“The rest of the power block is stock-standard
steam power generation, and South Africa has
sufficient power plants in this area for us to be
able to get experienced operators and
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maintainers. It is just the thermal energy
storage and solar field heat transfer that
requires us to put a little more effort into
getting people trained up so that we are
confident that we can manage those going
forward safely.”
The Project's major shareholder is ACWA
Power from Saudi Arabia, and the group
values are aligned towards dealing with
socio-economic issues in the areas they
are investing in, aimed at addressing
poverty and contributing to social
upliftment. “The ACWA Power model is not
one where the owner comes in and builds a
project and then runs away with the
profits,” says Bhula. “Furthermore, projects
of this nature, typically start injecting
funds into communities as part of their CSI
commitments after revenues start coming
in but not in our case, we have started
investing in our community from the onset
and plan to contribute for the long-term.”
ACWA Power's attention in this respect has
been primarily on boosting skills —
providing computers to schools, training
the local communities, and giving out
bursaries to start technical training in the
area. Furthermore, given the rural nature of
the communities, there were many families
in the local areas without water or
electricity, a matter of high importance that
ACWA Power naturally addressed when
they first focused their attention on the
area.
“We've done a full analysis on the socio-
economic challenges in the area. There
were kids who could not study because
they had no lights, and essentially their
whole lifestyle were constrained as a result.
So, with the donation of PV panels to a
local Duineveldt community, we've brought
light into their homes, people's lifestyles
have changed, kids can study at night
without needing candlelight, they are doing
better in school and already have
possibilities of improving their livelihoods.
Aside from this, our topline water
reticulation project has delivered potable
water for the first time to the homes of
over 77 residence in the area. This is ACWA
Power's mission through projects like
Bokpoort and others to follow. It's not just
about solar development, it's about a long-
term commitment to the community.”
Looking to the future, ACWA Power has a
well-developed strategy towards building a
multi-fuel, multi-technology generation
portfolio of around 4,000 MW in the
Southern African region. For scale, South
Africa's generation target for the entire
REIPPP scheme is 3,725 MW.
“It is ambitious, but I don't think that it's
seriously out of our reach because we have
a very aggressive stance in that respect.
Furthermore, if you ask me if 4,000 MW of
solar energy development alone, in the
Northern Cape and surrounds is ambitious,
I say no. There is nothing stopping South
Africa from doing so. We have a huge
abundant solar resource, a hunger for
renewable energy and the technology itself
has high localisation potential and will only
get cheaper and cheaper. This will bring
I think, the biggest challenge we have had to overcome, was the ability to get local skills to the level that is expected in order to be productively employed and meet our socio-economic development objectives
“
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increased knowledge and competency in
the industry and more importantly, jobs.
We expect to spend over R1.6 billion in
local content through the Bokpoort project
alone,” says Bhula.
Chris Ehlers, business director for ACWA
Power Southern Africa further highlights
ACWA Power's strategy going forward:
“ACWA Power's focus countries are
Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and
South Africa. We are fully committed as a
private utility company with a very long-
term approach. This includes the required
capital as well”. He continues, “South Africa
is seen as a hub for us to develop
economically and expand our footprint. We
have already committed to multiple
projects in this region.”
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Physical Address
3rd floor, Fredman Tower
13 Fredman Drive, 2196 Sandton
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 722 4100
Contact our office in South Africa
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