The sunny Northern Cape is a pioneer in solar thermal energy — and job creation
SA may still get most of its energy from coal, but in the sunny Northern Cape province, a different electricity source is taking hold: solar steam. A Spanish renewable energy company has opened three thermal solar plants — which use the sun’s heat to create electricity — in the province. The plants — which use sun-heated salt to drive turbines — produce enough electricity to provide power to just shy of a million people, or almost the province’s entire population, according its operators. This represents an important shift in SA, which suffered power shortages as recently as 2015, but now has excess power to sell to neighbouring. Just as important, the plants have provided new jobs in a province with one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the country, at more than 40%, according to UN officials. They recognised the clean-energy project at climate change talks in Bonn in November as a creative model for bringing scarce private cash into renewable energy projects in Africa. Th...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.