Acciona Commissions 138 MW Wind Farm In South Africa
Spanish renewable energy company Acciona Energy has successfully commissioned their first South African wind energy project.
Acciona Energy recently commissioned the 138 MW Gouda wind farm in Drakenstein, which is about 100 kilometres from Cape Town. Acciona owns the wind farm along with South African infrastructure firm Aveng, Soul City Broad-Based Empowerment Company (SCBBEC), and a community development entity, Local Community Trust.
The wind farm consists of 46 3 MW turbines supplied by Acciona, and is expected to generate 423 GWh of electricity and offset greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 406 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
In addition to the Gouda wind farm, Acciona also operates the 94.3 MW solar PV power plant. Both projects were allocated to Acciona-led consortia during the second round of auctions under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
Acciona is also working on the 100 MW Kathu concentrated solar thermal power plant in Northern Province. The project was allocated to a consortium led by GDF Suez (now Engie) in the third round auction of REIPPPP.
Acciona is working in partnership with Sener to set up the CSP project which will also have a molten salt storage system with 4.5 hours thermal storage capacity, and is expected to be commissioned in 2018. For both Sener and Acciona, this will be their second solar thermal project to be developed in South Africa, having worked together earlier on the Bokpoort plant (Upington), which is also a turnkey project employing Sener trough and a molten salt storage system. The Bokpoort plant is expected to be commissioned by end of this year.
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