Redstone Solar Thermal Power (RSTP) is a solar power tower with

molten salt energy storage Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with widely different technologies. Depending on the specific technology, it allows excess thermal energy to be stored and used hours, days, months later, at scales ranging from the individual process, ...

, located in Postmasburg, near

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

, in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

Region of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Redstone will have a capacity of 100

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...

s (MW) to deliver power to 200,000 people and was awarded in bid window 3.5 of the REIPPP at a strike price of 122.3 ZAR/KWh including time of day pricing in 2015. The project was initially based on the technology of now bankrupt Solar Reserve, but was delayed for several years because the PPA was not signed by Eskom until 2018. After the project was revived the plant is now under construction and the technology will be provided by Brightsource and John Cockerill, as demonstrated in the Noor Energy 1 project in the UAE.

Announcement in 2015

In January 2015, the South Africa Department of Energy awarded the RSTP project to a consortium led by SolarReserve and the Arabian Company for Water and Power Development ( ACWA Power). The project was to achieve financial close at end of 2015 and commence operations in early 2018. Overall project cost were estimated at $715 million, and basic power tariff offered at $124/ MW·h. Peak power tariff is 270% of the basic power tariff i.e. $334/ MW·h. Tariffs quoted in Rands, fully indexed, were R1.70/

kWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

base rate and R4.58/

peak rate (2015 rate). The RSTP project would create 800 direct jobs during construction, with a planned 30-year operating life.

Technology

The RSTP project features a 2-tank direct molten salt energy storage with 12 hours of full-load energy storage, namely 1200 MW·h of equivalent power production, avoiding any backup fuel requirement. The RSTP project is located adjacent the 75 MW Lesedi and 96 MW

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

photovoltaic solar power projects. Together the three projects comprise a combined CSP and PV solar park with a total 271 MW of generating capacity.

Delay since 2016

In early 2016, the

power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...

(PPA) worth R50 billion with Eskom was postponed because of a generation surplus. In April 2018, the purchase power agreement (PPA) with Eskom was signed. In August 2019, it was reported that financing for Redstone was complete. It is unclear what the bankruptcy of technology provider SolarReserve in 2020 means for the project. On 10 May 2021 ACWA Power announced the achievement of financial close, with commercial operations expected to commence in Q4 2023.

References

{{Power in South Africa , state=expanded Solar thermal energy Solar power stations in South Africa Economy of the Northern Cape

Announcement in 2015

Technology

Delay since 2016

See also

References