Boikanyo Solar Power Station

The Boikanyo Solar Power Station is a 50 MW 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 116 km, by road, southwest of Kimberly, the provincial headquarters of Northern Cape Province. Douglas is located approximately 595 km, by road, southwest of Johannesburg, the country's business capital.

Overview
The power station sits on 168 ha 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.

Other considerations
This power station was licensed under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Purchasing Programme (REIPPP). 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.