Scatec ASA has started producing and supplying electricity to the national grid from the three Kenhardt plants in the Northern Cape Province, in South Africa. The Kenhardt project is a hybrid solar and battery storage facility. Reportedly, the company invested $1 billion in the project.
The project has an installed solar capacity of 540 MW and a battery storage capacity of 225 MW/1,140 MWh. As per the company’s statement, this innovative and large-scale project delivers 150 MW of dispatchable power from 5 am to 9.30 pm year-round to the national grid under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Eskom.
Furthermore, the project debt is provided by a group of lenders which includes The Standard Bank Group as lead arranger and British International Investment. Scatec reached the financial closing for these projects in July 2022.
REGlobal’s Views: Hybrid projects are becoming popular across the globe to manage resource intermittency of solar and wind power. Such projects are quite critical for South Africa which is facing major power supply issues and prolonged blackouts. Hybrid projects provide balanced renewable energy generation with stable grids.
