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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MARCH
2015
Power Africa and its contractors during
the construction phase”. Roods goes on to
state, “ACWA Power are achieving a monthly
compliance of above 90% which is highly
commendable considering the remote loca-
tion of the site”.
Julies states, “ACWA Power Africa
Holdings has a strong commitment to the
environment with our zero harm policy in
terms of Health, Safety and the Environ-
mental compliance on all our facilities.
External audits are carried out on all our
facilities in compliance with World Bank IFC
guidelines and standards, ensuring interna-
tional compliance”.
During the construction phase of
Bokpoort ACWA Power has allocated R5-mil-
lion into local community development
projects for the. Kheis Municipality. This
includes business skills development; the
provision of solar lighting system; a water
reticulation project; and the upgrading of the
high school computer laboratory including
the provision of internet access. Julies
says, “As part of our social responsibility
programme we recently donated 100 indig-
enous trees to schools and the community in
the area. In addition to this ACWA Power has
established an aloe nursery as part of a relo-
cation programme for those aloes that have
been removed from the project site.
Royal HaskoningDHV, leaders in Environ-
mental Services, carried out the first 100 MW
solar EIA in the country for Eskom, in which
they assessed three farms in the Northern
Cape with Bokpoort being one of them.
The company, in conjunction with Solafrica
was also the first to undertake a water use
license for a development of this nature,
during which wet cooling was authorised
by the Department of Water and Sanitation
(DWS). Going forward however, dry cooling
is seen by the DWS as the preferred method
of cooling as it is less water intensive, and is
in line with their water saving initiatives.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Royal HaskoningDHV was appoin-
ted in 2010 to carry out the Envi-
ronmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) for the R5-billion ACWA Power
Solafrica Bokpoort Concentrated Solar
Power Plant situated at Bokpoort, which is
25 km north of Groblershoop in the Northern
Cape. In addition to this, Royal Haskon-
ingDHV was also appointed to carry out two
Basic Assessment Processes for the water
supply pipeline from the Orange River.
The position of the first abstraction
point was deemed to be unsuitable due to
the Orange River’s flood patterns necessi-
tating the design of a second abstraction
point, as well as 3 km pipeline extension.
In 2013 Royal HaskoningDHV was appointed
as the Environmental Control Officer (ECO)
at the start of project construction which
culminates in December 2015.
The approved EIA is for a 75 MW CSP
Power 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.
Malcolm Roods, market segment leader,
environmental services at Royal Haskon-
ingDHV states, “When applying for an EIA it
is important to ensure that the application is
for a large enough area; as well as that the
maximum capacity together with all rele-
vant EIA listed activities are applied for”.
This allows for phased development should
it be opted, like with the Bokpoort devel-
opment where another 25 MW generating
capacity can be added at a later stage. Having
as much detailed engineering information as
possible is crucial to inform the EIA process.
He goes on to say that it is also important
to listen to local knowledge. The EIA took
just 11 months, with the recent basic assess-
ment process taking only four months. Roods
believes that these good timeframes was
only achieved with the help of the National
Department of Environmental Affairs who
assisted in achieving a much faster turn-
around time, and that they should be
commended. It is also important to involve
all the relevant and affected stakeholders
during the public participation process, like
in this case Transnet, Eskom, etc.
Elton Julies, HSEQ Manager ACWA
Power Africa Holdings, states, “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 during the night”.
Challenges
Some of the project challenges include a
25 km dirt road to the site that is subject to
increased traffic volumes during construc-
tion. By far the greatest challenge is waste
management, both hazardous and general
waste during construction, exacerbated by
the fact that site location is very remote and
considering that the Northern Cape has very
limited licensed waste sites.
Acting as environmental control officer
for the project, Roods, states, “The main
purpose of the monthly compliance audits
is to ensure that all relevant environmental
conditions prescribed in the project Environ-
mental Authorisations (EA) and approved
Environmental Management Plan (EMP) &
Programmes (EMPRs) have been appropri-
ately and adequately considered by ACWA
SOLAR PLANT AUDIT
ACWA Power Solafrica’s new
Bokpoort Concentrating Solar
Power (CSP) plant is not only
being built to harness solar
power to supply into Eskom’s
grid to assist in alleviating
the country’s power crisis,
but will also satisfy one of the
National Development Plan’s
most crucial agendas – job
creation in an area that sorely
needs it.
ACWA Power
ACWA Power Africa Holdings is a divi-
sion of ACWA Power International
which is a lead developer, owner and
operator of independent water and
power projects structured on a conces-
sion or utility outsourcing contract
model. ACWA Power International
has also developed and will operate
a 160 MW sister solar power plant to
Bokpoort, in Morocco and are in the
process of constructing a 300 MW coal
fired power plant in Mozambique.
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