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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

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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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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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