Touwsrivier CPV Solar Project


Touwsrivier CPV Solar Project is a 44 MWp concentrator photovoltaics power station located 13 km outside the town of Touwsrivier in the Western Cape of South Africa. The installation reached full capacity in December 2014 and is the second largest operating CPV facility in the world. Electricity produced by the plant is fed into the national grid operated by Eskom under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Facility construction details

The facility consists of 1500 dual-axis CX-S530-II solar tracking systems divided into 60 sections. The 25 systems of each section are connected in parallel to a central grid-connected 630 kW inverter. Each system supports 12 CX-M500 modules which are each rated to produce 2450 Wp. Each module contains 2,400 fresnel lenses to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto multi-junction solar cells, allowing a greater efficiency than other photovoltaic power plants.
The facility is sited on 190 hectares near a similar 60 kW CPV pilot plant on the neighbouring Aquila private game reserve. Group Five Construction Ltd served as the EPC contractor for the balance of the project.
It is the world's largest assembly of Soitec's Concentrix Solar technology.

Ownership, funding, and operations

initiated the project under the South African government's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer programme. Construction was financed with a US$100 million bond special purpose vehicle on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The project is owned by Soitec ; the Public Investment Corporation, which is the South African
Government's employee pension fund ; Pele Green Energy Ltd
; and the Touwsrivier Community Trust. Pele Energy also provides oversight of ongoing operation and improvement activities with Group Five Construction.

Local community

Like other similar solar projects in South Africa, a profit sharing and investment agreement exists with the local community whereby a share of the profits from the plant are invested in improving the town of Touws River. This includes the construction of a hydroponics farm employing 30 people and upgrades to the town's primary school. Ongoing maintenance and security operations at the plant also employ about 35 people.

Electricity production

Monthly capacity and production data for grid-connected photovoltaic plants in South Africa are available in aggregate from the Renewable Energy Data and Information Service. Data from individual plants is restricted due to Department of Energy confidentiality protocols. Annual electricity production for the Touwsrivier CPV plant has performed near expected targets for the first four years of operation as summarized in this from Moody's.
YearTotal Annual MW·h
201569,204
201674,364
201775,506
201870,533
Average 72,402

Note that the plant's 44 MWp peak DC rating is specified under concentrator standard test conditions of DNI=1000 W/m², AM1.5D, & Tcell=25 °C, as per the IEC 62670 standard convention. Production capacity is 36MW based on IEC 62670 concentrator standard operating conditions of DNI=900 W/m², AM1.5D, Tambient=20 °C, & Wind speed=2 m/s, and is also the value quoted by several sources as representing the plant's expected AC capacity. A capacity factor of 0.230 then corresponds to annual production of: