The Proposed Capricorn Solar Power Plant near Potchefstroom, North West Province

Capricorn Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd intends to develop a photovoltaic solar facility and associated infrastructure on Portion 2 of the farm Witpoort No. 419 – IQ. The town of Potchefstroom is located approximately 17km west of the proposed development in the North West Province. The solar PV facility will comprise several arrays of PV panels and associated infrastructure, including and will have a contracted capacity of up to 250 MW. The development area is situated within the JB Marks Local Municipality and larger Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality.

The total area assessed is up to 2850 ha in extent. A development (feasibility) area / site of up to 500 hectares (including supporting infrastructure) has been identified for placement of the PV facility as well as the associated infrastructure as part of the Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. Within this development area, a still to be determined development footprint will be placed the which will ultimately house the Villiers Solar Power Plant. This area will be refined over the course of the EIA process.

Generation from the facility will tie into the proposed onsite facility substation, which will then connect to a proposed Eskom switching substation. The Eskom switching station will then connect to a main collector substation via 132 kV overhead power lines. The collector substation will connect via 275 kV overhead power lines to a newly proposed Main Transmission Station (MTS). Energy generated by the facility will then be evacuated by 400 kV power lines into the National Grid via a Loop-in Loop-out (LiLo) solution to the existing 411 Mercury/Midas 1 400kV Overhead Line. Electrical Grid Infrastructure (EGI) will be placed within a connection corridor which will be assessed. This corridor will have a length of up to 4.90 km long and an average of 200 m width, ranging between 100 m to 500 m.

For the development of Capricorn Solar Power Plant specific infrastructure and key components are required to be constructed and operated to enable the generation of electricity through the use of photovoltaic technology. The main components are as follows:
• PV Panel Array to enable the generation of 250 MW of electricity.
• Inverters and cabling are required to connect the PV array and thereby enabling the conversion of direct current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC) electricity at grid frequency.
• Grid connection infrastructure is required to connect the PV array to the electrical grid. This requires the transformation of the voltage from 480 V up to 33 kV and 132 kV. The grid connection infrastructure required includes an on-site facility substation and switching station as well as a single or double circuit overhead power line. The grid connection point for the Capricorn Solar Power Plant is the existing 411 Mercury/Midas 1 400kV Overhead Line.
• Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) locally or centrally located; required for the storage of generated electricity.
• Supporting infrastructure is required in the form of axillary buildings (including basic services such as water and electricity). These include Operations & Maintenance Building / Office, switch gear and relay room, staff lockers and changing room, security control and offices.
• Temporary and permanent laydown areas are also required.
• Temporary concrete batching plant for the construction process.
• Roads are required to access the site, as well as internally to access the various project components.
• For health, safety and security reasons, the facility will be required to be fenced off from the surrounding farms.

Three (03) additional solar PV facilities (Taurus Solar Power Plant, Scorpio Solar Power Plant and Sagittarius Solar Power Plant) are concurrently being considered on the surrounding properties and will be assessed through separate Basic Assessment processes.

Province(s): Limpopo