Mechanical Technology March 2015

⎪ Power, energy and energy management ⎪

The ACWA Power Solafrica’s new Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plant is being built to supply renewable solar energy into Eskom’s grid to alleviate the country’s power crisis. At the same time, it will satisfy one of the National Development Plan’s most crucial agendas: job creation in impoverished areas. EIAs and the R5-billion Bokpoort CSP plant

R oyal HaskoningDHV was appointed in 2010 to carry out the environmental im- pact assessment (EIA) for the R5‑billion ACWA Power Solafrica Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Power Plant to be situated at Bokpoort, 25 km north of Groblershoop in the Northern Cape. Royal HaskoningDHV was also ap- pointed to carry out two basic assessment processes for the water supply pipeline from the Orange River. The position of the first extraction point was deemed to be unsuitable due to the Orange River’s flood patterns and this necessitated the selection of a second extraction point and a 3.0 km pipeline extension. In 2013, Royal HaskoningDHV was appointed as the environmental control officer (ECO) at the start of project construction, a pro- cess that concludes in December 2015. The approved EIA is for a 75 MW CSP Plant and currently a 50 MW plant is being constructed utilising parabolic trough technology, which is the more suitable CSP technology option for the environment, especially avifauna (bird- life). Malcolm Roods, market segment

CSP parabolic trough technology is the more suitable CSP technology option for the environment, especially avifauna.

leader, environmental services at Royal HaskoningDHV says when applying for an EIA it is important to ensure that the application is for a large enough area; and that the maximum capacity, together with all relevant EIA listed activities, are applied for. “This allows for phased de- velopment should it be adopted, as with the Bokpoort development where another 25 MW generating capacity could be added at a later stage”. He adds that it is crucial to have as much detailed engineering information as possible when conducting the EIA process. “It is also important to listen to local knowledge,” he advises, adding that the environmental assessment took 11 months to complete while the basic as-

sessment process took only four months. Roods believes that these good timeframes were only achieved with the help of the National Department of Environmental Affairs, which assisted in achieving a much faster turnaround time, and that they should be commended for this. “It is also important to involve all the relevant and affected stakeholders during the public participation process: Transnet and Eskom, among others.” Elton Julies, HSEQ manager ACWA Power Africa Holdings, says, “Bokpoort is different from other solar projects in that we can generate electricity from the solar power system during the night. We have 9.3 hours of storage capacity suitable for base load generation. The heat from the huge salt storage tanks is used to generate electricity for up to 9.3 hours at night.” Some of the project challenges include a 25 km dirt road to the site, which is subject to increased traffic volumes during construction. By far the greatest challenge is waste management during construction – both hazardous and gen- eral waste – which is exacerbated by the remoteness of the site and the limited number of licensed waste sites in the Northern Cape. Acting as environmental control of- ficer for the project, Roods, says, “The main purpose of the monthly compli- ance audits is to ensure that all relevant environmental conditions prescribed

The Bokpoort CSP plant is suitable for base load generation because huge molten salt storage tanks are used to generate electricity for up to 9.3 hours during the night.

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Mechanical Technology — March 2015