Renewstable® Kopano Power Plant within the Lekwa Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province

Renewstable Mpumalanga (Pty) Ltd is proposing the development of power plant that converts electricity from the Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Energy Facility into hydrogen through an electrolyser system then stores this hydrogen in compressed gas form and restitutes the electricity to the grid through a fuel cell system, when the photovoltaic park no longer produces a sufficient amount of energy.

The project site located in the vicinity of Eskom’s Tutuka Coal Power Station and approximately 17km east of the village of Thuthukani in the Mpumalanga Province. The site is located in the Lekwa Local Municipality and within the Gert Sibande District Municipality. The extent of the site is approximately 119ha and the project site comprises the following farm portion:
» Portion of Portion 1 of the Farm Uitkyk 377-IS

The proposed power plant will be known as Renewstable® Kopano Power Plant and will have a contracted capacity of up to 27MW. The project is planned as part of a larger cluster of renewable energy projects, which includes other IPPs.

The Renewstable® Kopano Power Plant project site is proposed to accommodate the following infrastructure:
Photovoltaic Plant
» PV modules mounted on either a single axis tracking or fixed structure, dependent on optimisation, technology available and cost.
» Inverters and transformers.
» Low voltage cabling between the PV modules to the inverters
» Fence around the project development area
» Onsite facility substation
» Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
» Site offices and maintenance buildings, including workshop areas for maintenance and storage.
» Laydown/staging area.
» Temporary store area close to site entrance.
» Access roads and internal distribution roads (up to 10m).
Hydrogen Components
» Electrolysis System
» H2 Storage tanks
» Fuel Cell
Others main Process Equipments
» Air Compressor Unit
» H2 Compressor Unit
» Water treatment Unit
» Electrical Room
Grid Connection Components: (Separate Application will be made to the Department)
» Collector station (jointly with other IPPs)
» Grid Connection to Eskom station at Alpha Station
Province(s): Gauteng