Solar power developments |
Go-ahead for Redstone CSP: South Africa’s biggest renewables investment yet
ACWA Power, lead shareholder in the project, has announced start of construction of the 100 MW Redstone concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in South Africa, following achievement of financial close. At ZAR 11.6 billion, the Redstone project is the largest renewable energy investment in South Africa to date. The project has secured financing from international and South African financial institutions, including African Development Bank (AfDB); ABSA Bank; Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA); CDC Group; Nedbank Limited; Nederlandse Financierings- Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO); Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG); Investec Bank; and Sanlam Life Insurance.
Through the “successful mobilisation
of international project finance”, ACWA Power says Redstone CSP has facilitated approximately ZAR 7 billion in foreign direct investment.
ACWA Power’s co-shareholders in the project include the Central Energy Fund, Pele Green Energy and the local community. Located in Northern Cape, Redstone will be equipped with a 12-hour thermal salt storage system, similar to that installed in the Bokpoort CSP facility.
As part of what ACWA Power describes as its “implicit social contract”, Redstone CSP will provide value-adding ancillary services required by the system operator at no cost to the local public utility Eskom, which “marks a first for a renewable energy plant in the country.”
Evaluating PV durability
Gulf Renewables Lab, a UL-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Labs joint venture, is able to evaluate PV module durability after exposure to extreme conditions at an outdoor test facility in Saudi Arabia, co-located with a state-of-the-art indoor PV testing laboratory.
The outdoor test field is located in an open, sandy area, approximately ten kilometers from the sea, where temperatures range from 5 to 53°C (41 to 127°F) and the average humidity reaches 80%. The extreme environment of the test facility provides an opportunity to better understand the effects of temperature, sand and dust on PV performance.
Based on a recently completed a year-long study at the Saudi facility, UL offers practical recommendations for maximising the life of PV modules operating in extreme environments.
See
https://www.ul.com/resources/middle- east-and-africa-renewable-energy-summit
Recommended practice for floating PV
DNV has published the world’s first recommended practice (RP) for floating PV projects, following a collaborative joint industry project involving 24 industry participants. The Recommended Practice (DNVGL-RP-0584) aims to help accelerate “safe, sustainable and sound design, development, operation and decommissioning of floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) projects.”
Floating solar is a promising renewable energy technology, particularly in areas where there is a shortage of available land for large PV plants, DNV notes, and the “wider adoption of floating solar power could scale up particularly in countries that have high population density and limited spare land. such as in many Asian nations.”
Following the first projects in 2006, the installed capacity of FPV was only 10 MW by 2015 but has accelerated considerably since then, reaching 2 GW towards the end of 2020. It is estimated that the total global potential capacity for deploying FPV on human-made, inland waters alone could be as high as 4 TW, with an expected pipeline of more than 10 GW by 2025.
While FPV is a promising growing industry, there are however a number of complexities and challenges associated with the installation of floating solar plants, and there have been failures, for example severe typhoon damage to Japanese installations.
The RP offers insight into the technical
complexity of designing, building and operating PV on and in water, especially in terms of electrical safety, anchoring and mooring issues, operation and maintenance, and designing FPV plants that can withstand site-specific environmental conditions.
Ditlev Engel, CEO of energy systems at DNV said: “Floating solar is an untapped, fast-growing technology with huge potential and I hope this recommended practice will drive the adoption and scaling of this technology.”
The JIP (joint industry project), which kicked off last summer, reviewed all aspects of developing floating solar projects on inland and near-shore waters. It focuses on five key topics: site conditions assessment; energy yield forecast; mooring & anchoring systems; floating structures; permitting and environmental impact.
“We created this recommended practice to ensure harmonised and quality approaches in developing floating solar power projects to increase confidence from investors, regulators and other stakeholders”, said DNV project manager Michele Tagliapietra. The guidance aims to “minimise risks and ultimately increase trust, avoiding failures and accidents which may put a break on the potential growth of this promising market.”
Above: Floating PV at Yamakura dam, Japan – rebuilt following severe typhoon damage, which included fires due to short circuits (image: Kyocera/Ciel & Terre)
24 | May 2021 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
“Being pioneers of this floating solar market, we are delighted to see this JIP team work taking shape in the form of this Recommended Practice. We believe this is a great step towards unlocking the potential of floating solar”, said Olivier Philippart, director at Ciel & Terre International, one of the 24 participants in the project.
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