Norwegian renewable energy company Scatec Solar announced the start of commercial operations at a 40 megawatt solar photovoltaic plant in South Africa. The Linde project in the Northern Cape region is the second for the company in South Africa. Scatec's first project, the Kalkbult plant, has a power generation capacity of 75 MW, bringing the company's total solar capacity in South Africa to 115 MW.
"Scatec Solar has for more than four years been actively developing project opportunities in South Africa, and we look forward to realize more projects for the benefit of the regions and the local communities in which we operate," Scatec Solar CEO Raynond Carlsen said. South African public electric utility Eskom has agreed to a 20-year contract to purchase the power produced by the new solar plant.
The Linde project will produce in excess of 90 million kWh annually; enough to cover the electricity needs of around 20,000 households.Elsewhere in Africa, Scatec Solar has secured project financing to build an 8.5 MW solar PV park in Rawanda, which is expected to be the first utility-scale solar plant in East Africa and to boost Rawanda's power capacity by 8 percent.
