Boikanyo Solar Power Station


The Boikanyo Solar Power Station is a solar power plant in South Africa. It is a grid-connected, privately owned and privately funded solar power station. The power station, which took about one year to construct, reached "grid code compliance" on 9 April 2021 and provided 450 construction jobs.

Location

The power station is located near the town of Douglas, in Siyancuma Local Municipality, in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. This is approximately, by road, southwest of Kimberly, the provincial headquarters of Northern Cape Province. Douglas is located approximately, by road, southwest of Johannesburg, the country's business capital.

Overview

The power station sits on of "low vale farmland". It comprises 184,000 solar panels, capable of collectively generating 152 GWh annually, enough to supply 62,000 South African homes. The power is evacuated via a 132kV high voltage transmission line to the Siyancuma substation, where the energy is integrated into the national grid. Eskom, the national electricity utility company of South Africa buys the generated electricity, under a twenty-year power purchase agreement.

Developers

The power station was developed by a consortium, which owns the station and has formed a special purpose vehicle company by the name: Boikanyo Power Company. The consortium comprises the corporate entities listed in the table below.
RankName of OwnerNotes
1Reatile Solar Power
2Phakwe Solar
3African Rainbow Energy and Power
4Cicada Community Trust
5African Infrastructure Investment Managers

Other considerations

This power station was licensed under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Purchasing Programme . This program was designed by the Government of South Africa, with the objective of attracting "private investment in the renewable energy sector".
The same consortium of all South African-based IPPs was granted concessions to develop renewables as illustrated in the table below.
RankPower StationLocationEnergyCapacityStatus
1De Wildt Solar Power StationBritsSolar50 MWOperational
2Waterloo Solar Power StationVryburgSolar75 MWOperational
3Bokamoso Solar Power StationBokamosoSolar68 MWOperational
4Zeerust Solar Power StationZeerustSolar75 MWOperational
5Boikanyo Solar Power StationDouglasSolar50 MWOperational