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Cape Town - Upington’s sources of solar irradiation for solar power generation are 20% better than those for areas in America where some of the largest solar power plants are currently under construction, and 40% to 50% above those of Spain, said Professor Wikus van Niekerk, director of the University of Stellenbosch’s Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES).
These figures are based on analysis of solar irradiation data provided to the centre by Eskom. The analysis indicates that areas west of Upington have even better sources of solar irradiation.
According to Van Niekerk, figures show that solar plants built in these areas would generate more power than plants elsewhere for the same capital outlay. They could give power providers a better yield, enabling loans to be paid off more quickly.
The Northern Cape has exceptional solar resources – better than in those in North Africa, where the massive Desertec solar power project is being envisaged.
With funding from the United Nations Environment Programme, the CRSES handed the solar irradiation data to a firm in Slovakia for analysis. The firm, GeoModel Solar, analysed the data together with 17 years of satellite data.
GeoModel Solar found that the area near Upington – where Eskom wishes to erect a concentrated 100MW solar power plant, and government a solar park generating a minimum of 1 000MW and a maximum of 5 000MW – has direct normal irradiance (DNI) of 2 816kWh per m² a year.
DNI predicts the potential power that could be generated by concentrating solar power systems, where the heliostats (mirrors or solar reflectors) follow the sun through the course of the day.
According to Van Niekerk, these average DNI and average optimal tilt irradiation (OTI) values are extremely high and among the best in the world. In Spain, typical DNI values at solar power plants are between 2 000 and 2 200kWh per m² a year. In America solar plants are built in areas with DNI values of 2 700kWh per m² a year.
- Sake24
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