PIC holds a 20% stake in both the Xina Solar One and Ilanga I CSP projects

South Africa’s largest pension fund, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), has acquired a 20% stake in each of the two concentrated solar power (CSP) projects awarded in Window 3 of the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP).

The Xina Solar One and Ilanga I projects are located in the Northern Cape Province and have a combined capacity of 200 MW. Furthermore, the PIC also announced that it will provide Ilanga I with 600 million rand (US $49.6 million) in debt finance.

Xina Solar One is a 100 MW parabolic trough with 5 hours of molten salt-based thermal energy storage (TES). Companies involved in its development include Abengoa, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), PIC and KaXu Community Trust.

Likewise, Ilanga I is a 100 MW parabolic trough with 4.5 hours of TES. The developers behind the project include Cobra, Emvelo, the IDC, PIC, Community Trust and Investec. Both plants will supply electricity to Eskom, South Africa's power utility, under 20-year power purchase agreements (PPA).

CSP industry to create between 275,000 and 520,000 jobs worldwide by 2030, ESTELA says

The European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) has issued a report discussing the impact that CSP will have in terms of job creation and energy security in Europe.

Based on estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the report forecasts that between EUR 39 - 57 billion will be invested each year over the 2015 – 2030 period. This will result in the creation of between 275,000 and 520,000 jobs worldwide.

However, to realise this vision, consistent “political support from the European Union”  is required, in order to install 15 GW of CSP in Europe between 2015 and 2030. If that happens, the sector will create “up to 150,000 qualified jobs” in the next 15 years, the paper says.

CSP can provide 2.7 times California’s total power consumption, report says

A study conducted by researchers at Stanford University's Carnegie Institution for Science published last week in the Nature Climate Change journal, found that California's developed landscapes “could generate enough solar energy to power the state several times over without building on intact wildlife habitat.”

The authors also highlighted that the state's industrial zones and other sites appropriate for developing CSP power plants could provide 2.7 times the state's total power consumption all on their own.

Regarding TES capabilities the report says that “according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), adding heat storage to a parabolic trough solar plant can raise its capacity factor -the percentage of the time the plant is actually operating at full capacity -from around 25% to up to 70%, making them approximately as reliable on a day-to-day basis as coal or nuclear power plants.”

Additionally, "solar energy within the built environment may be an overlooked opportunity for meeting sustainable energy needs in places with land and environmental constraints," the study concludes.