Abengoa Completes 50-Megawatt, Superheated Steam Solar Tower in South Africa

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Abengoa (OTC:AGOAF) (Seville, Spain), with project partners Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) (Johannesburg) and the Khi community trust, has completed the 50-megawatt (MW) Khi Solar One superheated steam solar tower project in South Africa's Northern Cape province, near Upington.

The project represents a technological advance in tower efficiency by using a higher and innovative dry-cooling system, which came from Abengoa's research centers and pilot plants. The installation provides two hours of thermal storage. The thermal tower has a height of 205 meters.

The Khi community trust, representing the local population, will benefit from training in areas such as entrepreneurship, leadership, education and infrastructure.

In the Northern Cape, Abengoa is constructing Kaxu Solar One, a 100-MW parabolic trough plant. With Khi Solar One, it will be one of the first CSP plants in operation in South Africa.

Constructing and operating its own plants, Abengoa offers both parabolic trough and tower technology. Worldwide, the company has a total installed capacity of 843 MW, with a further 810 MW under construction.

For related information, see May 13, 2013, article - Second Round of South Africa's Renewables Program to Add 1,044 Megawatts.

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