Page 43 - Respond 2016 Magazine

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fossil fuel-based generating solutions. In this future energy mix, both At Morocco, the activity at the NOOR Complex - which when fully
PV and CSP electricity are complementary as depicted in the daily developed by 2018 will become the largest solar facility in the
demand picture below for a real system during a 24 hour period. world at a single site - has moved into the construction of the
second phase.
The challenge with CSP technology unlike in the case of wind and
PV is that it has not yet become cost competitive compared to fossil In 2015 ACWA Power-led consortiums won both the plants to be
fuel based alternatives even in the parts of the world where the constructed at this second phase; a 200 MW parabolic trough based
resources are abundant and land costs are minimal. CSP plant with a storage capacity of seven hours and a 150MW solar
tower based CSP plant with a storage capacity of eight hours. Upon
The reason for this is rooted in the history of how this technology completion, this complex will power more than one million homes
developed and was deployed. Considerable research, development and will save one million tons of oil equivalent (TOE) and avoid
and innovation went into PV technology in the early days to provide the emission of 3.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year while reliably
power solutions for space exploration and satellites. It also saw delivering solar energy during the day and well into the night.
land-based utility-scale application and roof-top application take
off as concerns around climate change took root. Greater capacity Increasingly, the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model of
was implemented and newcomers stepped up to innovate, driving contract is helping to achieve cost reductions on each successive
down costs to the level they are at today with just short of 400GW of project as more capacity is procured, greater innovation is brought
PV generation capacity having been implemented around the world to bear and new participants enter the supply chain generating a
and a rapidly growing market having been established. competitive market.

Morocco leads the way Retaining value
There was no particular reason for CSP-based technology to IPP transfers the responsibility to private sector to design, build,
develop until recent times when the ability to economically store finance, construct and operate the power generation plants where
heat via the molten salt medium was recognized. Even then, in the payment for the generated electricity is only made as the
order to encourage the development of this technology, certain energy is dispatched with the private sector. This means the private
countries offered a feed in tariff encouragement which indeed sector takes all the risks such as technology, timely completion of
helped to kick start deployment but provided little incentive to new build, cost overrun in capital and operating cost and even the
innovate and reduce cost. resource risk - with the public sector only taking demand risk as
the energy is provided on long-term take or pay contracts and with
CSP technology slowly evolved to the point of having been deployed the use of a transparent competitive procurement process, where
at a level of 3GW, less than one hundredth of PV deployment levels the tenderer is given the opportunity to offer the most competitive
by then at a cost of 35 US cents /kWh. In 2011 Masen, the then newly price instead of offering capacity within a preset feed in tariff.
formed renewable power procurement agency in Morocco, launched
a pioneering and visionary CSP procurement program using a Also, as is being demonstrated through the South African REFIT
transparent competitive tender process. and the Moroccan renewable energy programs, well implemented,
transparent and competitive procurement processes are changing
The first phase - NOORo1, a 160MW CSP plant with three hours of the game on renewable energy project sourcing. Procurement
molten salt storage capacity at Ouarzazate, a plateau surrounded processes that define the required objectives of the transition to
by the Atlas mountains - attracted three bidders including a a green economy are not only leading to renewable energy being
consortium led by ACWA Power who delivered a tariff of 18.9 US procured at some of the lowest costs achieved in the world but
Cents/kWh, 24% lower than the second bidder thus resetting the also at the same time are achieving vital supplementary objectives
tariff outlook and relevance of CSP technology. as meaningful industrialization, economic development, value
retention within country and employment creation.
The NOORo1project is now constructed and has been dispatching
electricity since the beginning of 2016. In simple terms, both the models are achieving much more than
simply renewable Megawatts without impacting cost of the delivered
Mitigation potential energy. By relentlessly focusing on a mission to reliably provide
In 2011, ACWA Power also participated in the second round of electricity and - where required - desalinated water at the lowest
the government of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent possible cost, ACWA Power is consistently delivering tenders for
Power Producers’ Procurement Program managed by the IPP Unit at providing bulk capacity on long-term contracts which are typically
the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance at a site at Bokpoort near the 20% lower in cost than the next competitor. Regardless of which
city of Upington. country, or the size of project, we support the development of CSP
technologies to be capable of being able to compete shoulder-to-
At Bokpoort, we delivered another pace-setting tariff for a 50 MW shoulder with fossil fuel alternative generation solutions for reliable
CSP plant with nine hours of molten salt storage. This project is electricity for use both at day light hours and at night.
already now operational and is demonstrating the versatility and
power of CSP technology. Within the first month of its commercial With a portfolio of over 1000MWs in either operation and/or
operation, the newly inaugurated plant served more than 200,000 construction and with a pipeline of another 1,000 MWs to deploy,
households had produced electricity generated using the heat of ACWA Power is proud to be a leading developer, owner and operator
the sun for a continuous period of 161 hours, equivalent to almost of renewable energy in the emerging markets, contributing to
six days, day and night – a new African record. achieving the commitments made in Paris last December.

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