IFC to finance CSP project in South Africa
The Investment Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, is mulling financing the 100 megawatt (MW) Redstone Solar Thermal Power project located in South Africa.
The Project involves the design, construction, ownership, operation and maintenance of a new 100 MW molten salt tower base Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant. The plant is to sell power to Eskom under a 20 year power purchase agreement (PPA).
The total project cost is estimated at ZAR10 billion (US$833 million). The proposed IFC investment is an A Loan of up to ZAR864 million (US$72 million) for IFC’s own account and up to the ZAR equivalent of US$38.8 million for IFC in its capacity as Implementing Entity of the Clean Technology Fund (CTF).
The Redstone Solar Thermal Power project will be located in Postmasburg, near Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province, adjacent to the 75 MW Lesedi and 96 MW Jasper photovoltaic (PV) solar power projects successfully developed by SolarReserve and its investment partners. Together, the three projects comprise the world’s first combined CSP and PV solar park with a total of 271 MW of generating capacity.
In January this year we reported that the South Africa Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the project to a consortium composed by SolarReserve and ACWA Power. The project is part of the DOE’s Round 3 (CSP) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
