BEIJING: In the vast, semiarid region near Postmasburg, in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province, construction of one of the country’s biggest renewable energy power plants is nearing completion.
The Redstone Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Project is expected to begin trial operations soon, eventually generating enough energy to power 200,000 households in South Africa, and thereby greatly alleviating the country’s acute power shortage.
Energy has been a major area of cooperation between China and South Africa over the past years. During President Xi Jinping’s visit to South Africa in August, in the presence of Xi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the two countries signed a number of cooperation deals in Pretoria, including agreements on emergency power, investment in renewable energy and the upgrade of South Africa’s power grids.
Since Xi’s visit, work on the Redstone power plant has accelerated, with the steam generation system and solar receiving system already completed. Trial operations are expected to start this month, and full operation is scheduled before the end of the year, said Xie Yanjun, deputy director and chief engineer of the project, which is being built by SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co, a subsidiary of PowerChina.
Gloria Kgoronyane, a resident of Jroenwatel village, which is located near the project site, said she is eagerly waiting for the Redstone plant to begin operations, and hopes that more power plants can be built to ease the severe power shortage, which has adversely affected her life over the past few years.
“Load shedding has become more frequent since 2022, and nowadays in my village, every day we experience between two and four hours of power cuts,” she said. “We cannot watch TV, and sometimes the meat in the fridge rots due to load shedding, so I have to throw it out.”
“The power plant uses solar thermal, a very clean source of energy, to generate electricity, which conforms with South Africa’s environmental protection strategy,” Xie said. “While contributing to reduced carbon emissions, it will also significantly ease the power shortage in South Africa.” –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
