The United States of America will construct a solar power plant in South Africa worth US $400m .The US Government development financial institution through its Overseas private investment corporation (OPIC) has approved funding of the power plant.
The US investment agency says the move is part of new energy projects in emerging markets such as South Africa.
Solar Reserve, a company based in California USA and ACWA Power from Saudi Arabia will collaborate in the construction and operation of the 100MW solar power plant in South Africa which will be located in the Northern Cape Province.
According to OPIC, this power initiative is part of President Barak Obama’s US $7bn to “Power Africa”. This was launched in 2013 with the aim of boosting electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa.
This initiative by the President of the United States of America prioritizes the African Continent capacity to generate electricity with additional focus on small scale renewable energy investments.
OPIC further noted that it had given the Standard Bank of South Africa US $250 for the funding of power generating and infrastructure project in Sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa is currently experiencing bad power shortages forcing State Owned Corporation- Eskom to control the shortages in order to avoid the collapse of the national grid. The power cuts have in turn affected the economy of the country for the first time in more than a year.
