Acwa Power secures PPA for South African renewables: KSA renewables giant Acwa Power signed a power purchase agreement with South Africa’s Mineral Resources and Energy Ministry and state power company Eskom to offtake energy from a planned 150 MW dispatchable renewables plant, according to a statement. The project is part of Acwa’s USD 800 mn, 442 MW DAO solar energy complex in the country’s Northern Cape Province.

SOUND SMART- Dispatchable power plants are energy facilities that can alter how much power they provide to the electricity grid on short notice. They can be switched on and off or ramped up and down to meet power demand.

About the project: The 442 MW solar farm — which is expected to come online by 2Q 2026 — is currently under construction and will be accompanied with a 1.2 GWh capacity battery energy storage system, the statement notes. The project is co-owned by Acwa Power, Thebe DAO and Trisort Investments, with each holding a 33.3% stake, Power Technology notes.

Not Acwa’s first entry into South Africa: Acwa kicked off on construction on its ZAR 11.6 bn (c. USD 622.7 mn) 100 MW concentrated solar power Redstone plant in the African country back in 2021, which at the time was the country’s largest. The project was set to come online by Q4 2023. The company also helped develop the USD 517 mn, 50 MW Bokpoort CSP greenfield Independent Power Project (IPP) to support advancement of South Africa’s renewable IPP program.

Other regional players are also tapping the country’s clean energy market: The South African government tapped the UAE’s Amea Power for development of the USD 120 mn, 120 MW Doornhoek solar energy plant last year. Once operational, the project is expected to generate over 325 GWh of clean energy, offsetting 290k tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Tags: