SA’s KaXu Solar One wins prestigious UN climate change award at COP23
The Northern Cape project is a 100MW plant and is the first concentrated solar power plant in the country, which can generate electricity as well as store energy
The KaXu Solar One concentrated solar power (CSP) project, in the Northern Cape, was on Wednesday presented with a Momentum of Change award by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The award was presented at COP23, this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, under way in Bonn, Germany. KaXu is a 100MW plant constructed on a 1,100ha site near Pofadder. It was recognised under the Financing for Climate Friendly Investment category as one of 19 "Lighthouse Activity of the Year" projects receiving an award this year. KaXu is one of the first batch of 28 renewable energy projects unveiled by the Department of Energy in 2011. It is also the first CSP plant in SA to use parabolic trough technology. This entails the use of parabolic mirrors to reflect and concentrate the sun’s rays to produce heat, which then generates steam that powers turbines and produces electricity. Energy storage allows the plant to produce firm, base-load electricity even when the sun is not shining, offering ...
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