Sun and salt of Northern Cape harnessed for green power
● For thousands of years the power of the sun has been part of the lives of chief Paul Swartbooi’s people, the indigenous inhabitants of Namaqualand.
But not even his most far-sighted ancestors could have imagined how that power would be harnessed in the 21st century.
On Friday, dressed in his traditional Khoisan regalia and supported by his knobkerrie, Swartbooi was among those at the official launch of Xina Solar One near Pofadder — a concentrated solar power plant representing the culmination of millennia of knowledge.
Stretched out over 300ha, the size of about 350 rugby fields, the 100MW facility is the third of its kind in the Northern Cape, which is fast gaining a reputation as the solar hub of the world.
The plant will provide electricity to at least 95 000 homes.
“Since the ancient times our people have made use of the sun for living and navigating, so we understand the importance of its energy,” Swartbooi said.
“We embrace it. We are a part of it.”
Xina Solar One, Kaxu Solar One and Khi Solar One — whose Khoisan names mean “bright light”, “open skies” and “tree of life” — use reflectors to focus the sun’s rays on a thermal energy storage system. Molten salt heats up during the day and remains hot enough at night to continue generating electricity in the dark.
Both Xina and Kaxu are outside Pofadder, while Khi, which features a 205m energycollecting tower, is on the outskirts of Upington. It is one of the tallest structures in the country, after the Carlton Centre and the Telkom Tower in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.
The fact that the three plants can generate power after the sun goes down — unlike photovoltaic panels which only work in daylight — is very important for South Africa where most power is required at night, according to Terence Govender, chairman of the South African Renewable Energy Council.
“South Africa’s peak power demands are before sunrise and after sunset, so that’s why concentrated solar power is very important for our grid,” he told the Sunday Times.
“When you generate with CSP you have a constant generation profile, which means you always generate to the full production capability.
“It’s more efficient than photovoltaic or wind.”
The project is a collaboration between the Industrial Development Corporation, the Public Investment Corporation, the Xina Community Trust and Spanish company Abengoa Solar.
More than 1 300 jobs were created during the construction of Xina Solar One with an additional 80 operational positions introduced and guaranteed for the next 20 years.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch on Friday, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe promised there would be “a lot of action in the [renewable] energy sector” in the future.
Radebe said investment in renewable energy would result in lower electricity prices for South Africans because of increased competition in the market.
“In April we signed another 27 agreements with the private sector, bringing to the South African economy R56-billion.
“The renewable programme is going to be stimulating the economy to ensure there is economic growth,” said Radebe.
Xina started operating in August, the third of the Abengoa plants to do so.
“This type of project is important . . . to take our children into the future as collaborators and not just labourers,” Swartbooi said.