Technical advisor appointed to 50MW South African project
Mott MacDonald has been appointed as lenders' technical advisor by Investec Bank Limited and Absa Bank Limited for a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant located in Groblershoop, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The 50MW facility will enhance the country's electricity supply resilience, minimise CO2 emissions and offset demand during grid peak power periods through its record-size thermal storage.
The plant, known as Bokpoort, is being developed through a power purchase agreement under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPP), the South African Government's renewable energy initiative. It will be equipped with the largest thermal storage ever adopted for a solar power plant of this class and capacity to date, with a capacity of 9.3 hours. This will enable the plant to generate record-high energy during the day as well as into the night, in excess of 200GWh/year.
Mott MacDonald will provide technical assistance to the lenders on the project. This includes monitoring the 28-month construction and commissioning phase through periodic site visits.
Viktor Lempesis, Mott MacDonald's project director, said: "Mott MacDonald is a market leader in technical due diligence for solar thermal power plants and has a successful track record in advising project stakeholders on all technical aspects. This includes power block and solar field design and solar energy yield and plant performance, as well as on the allocation of risks and responsibilities under the project's suite of contracts, impacts on the financial model and environmental and social aspects."
"We look forward to working on this prestigious project which will provide electricity to approximately 21,000 households and save around 230,000 tons of CO2 emissions during each year of operation."
The Bokpoort CSP plant is due to be commercially operational by the end of 2015
