Kathu Solar Park

Kathu solar park is a 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project being developed in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.

Construction on the project commenced in May 2016, while commissioning is expected in late-2018. The solar power park will have an operational life of 30 years.

Kathu solar project is a part of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Program (IRP) 2010, which aims to increase the country’s power generation capacity to 86.8GW by 2030.

The project is being developed by Kathu Solar Park (Pty) Ltd, which is jointly owned by ENGIE (48.5%), the SIOC Community Development Trust (SIOC CDT, 12.5%), the Public Investment Corporation (PIC, 17.5%), Investec Bank (7.5%), the Lereko Metier REIPPP Fund Trust (LMRF, 11.5%), and the Kathu LCT Trust (2.5%).

Kathu solar park location and make-up

Kathu solar park is located in the Kalahari Desert in the Province of Northern Cape, approximately 600km south-west of Pretoria.

It will be a parabolic trough plant consisting of a number of solar collector assemblies, including parabolic reflectors (curved mirror), a tracking system, a support structure, and a receiver tube. It will also include heat exchangers, steam boilers, and steam turbines.

The plant will also be equipped with a molten salt storage system, which enables 4.5 hours of thermal energy storage. The storage system will reduce the effects of irregular sunlight and enable the plant to produce electricity even during the absence of sunlight.

It will also be installed with 57 three-phase, cast resin-type transformers rated at 1,500kVA.

Power generation at Kathu

The parabolic trough technology tracks the sun with the parabolic reflectors and focuses the sun rays onto an absorber pipe, which serves as a heat absorbent medium.

“The project will supply electricity to more than 179,000 South African homes and offset six million tonnes of carbon emissions over 20 years.”

The absorbed heat energy is carried to the heat exchanger and boiler, which contains water. The heat boils the water and produces steam, which drives the steam turbine to generate electricity.

Financing

The Kathu project is being funded through a combination of equity and debt. The debt financing is being provided by a group of South African banks, including Nedbank Capital, Rand Merchant Bank, Investec, ABSA Capital, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

Power purchase agreement details

ENGIE signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with South African state-owned utility company Eskom for the Kathu solar park project in May 2016.

Contractors involved

A consortium of SENER and ACCIONA was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project. SENER is providing its second-generation SENERtrough®-2 parabolic trough technology as part of the contract.

MMYPEM is carrying out the mechanical assembly of the steam turbines, while SEA is supplying cast resin transformers.

Mott MacDonald carried out the technical and environmental due diligence during the financing stage and is also responsible for monitoring the construction and operations.

Benefits of the Kathu solar project

The project will supply electricity to more than 179,000 South African homes and offset six million tonnes of carbon emissions over 20 years.

It will also create 500 jobs during the construction phase and 81 permanent jobs during the operational phase.

The project is also expected to drive the economic revival of the Northern Cape Province, which is currently in depression due to a slump in mining activities.