Sets new benchmark achieving 312 hours of continuous operations
ACWA Power recently announced today that its South African Bokpoort CSP plant has become the first renewable facility in the continent to complete a full week of continuous round the clock operation.
Bokpoort CSP set the new African continental benchmark achieving 13 days (312 hours) of continuous operations on 23rd October 2020, which translates to approximately 13GWh of energy supply to the grid at an energy load factor of 83%, and 20 hours of full load operations daily, almost double the previous record it had set in March 2016.
This accomplishment was made possible by optimally managing 9.3 hours of the thermal salt storage system overnight, which allowed for a perfectly timed transition to the solar field every morning for the entire duration of this effort.
The 50 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant with thermal storage was commissioned during the second bidding window of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP) and has been setting consistent records, since commencement of its commercial operations in 2016.
