Kathu Solar Park ventures into commercial operations, To produce 86.8GW by 2030

Kathu Solar Park in South Africa has recently ventured into the commercial operations. South Africa's 100 megawatt Kathu Solar Park located in the Northern Cape Province is furnished with a molten salt storage system that allows the plant to keep on producing electricity 4.5 hours steadily in absence of solar radiation and guarantee dispatchable energy generation to meet on demand needs.

According to the reports confirmed by Siyabonga Mbanjwa, Regional MD of Sener Southern Africa, the park is anticipated to supply clean energy to 179,000 homes in the Province and prevent the emission of six million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for over the next two decades.

"With the completion of Kathu Solar Park, we show our firm commitment to the development of renewable energy industry in South Africa. Reaching commercial operation at Kathu means that the energy supply to the local community is secure and demand is well managed while contributing to mitigate the effects of climate change," Siyabonga Mbanjwa opined.

Kathu Solar Park project is part of the South Africa government's Integrated Resource Programme (IRP) 2010. The plan looks forward to augmenting the country's power generation capacity to 86.8 gigawatt by 2030, of which 24 percent will be renewable. "The execution of the Kathu Solar Park plant has been a success for performance objectives thanks to the excellent team involved in the project, and also for the impact it has had on the economy and population in the Province of the Northern Cape in South Africa," director of operations and production at ACCIONA Industrial, Roberto Felipe opined.