Engie has announced that commercial operations have been achieved for the 100MW Kathu Solar Park in South Africa.
The kathu site, covering 4.5km2 with 384000 mirrors is a greenfield Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project with parabolic trough technology. It is equipped with a molten salt storage system and allows for 4.5 hours of thermal energy storage to provide reliable electricity in the absence of solar radiation and during peak demand.
Kathu is the first csp development of engie
Sabelle Kocher, CEO of ENGINE said “the completion of Kathu shows continued commitment to an economic and environmentally friendly development in South Africa. Kathu with its molten salt storage design offers a clean solution to overcome the intermittency of renewable energies. We are proud to contribute to the country’s renewable energy goals, and look forward to continuing the projects initiated with local communities making Kathu a genuine driver of regional economic development.”
Kathu are planning to provide clean and renewable energy for 179000 homes in the local community of John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, the Northern Cape and South Africa as a whole. According to estimations kathu power project will save six million tons of C02 over 20 years.
Kathu Solar Park shareholders are led by Engie (48.5%) include a group of South African investors; investec bank, community development trust, Lereko Metier Sustainable Capital Fund, and its co-investors FMO, the Dutch development bank and DEG, the German Investment and Development Company, and the Public Investment Corporation.