On the occasion of the recent state visit of President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa to Saudi Arabia, a cooperation agreement was entered into by the Central Energy Fund of South Africa and ACWA Power, a Saudi Arabian developer, owner and operator of power generation and water desalination plants. The agreement establishes the framework for both entities to co-invest in renewable energy projects, the first of which will be the 100MW Redstone concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plant in the country’s Northern Cape Province. The document was signed by Godfrey Moagi, acting group CEO of Central Energy Fund, and in the presence of Ramaphosa, Saudi Minister of Finance Mohamed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr. Majed Al-Qassabi, Minister of State for African Affairs Ahmed Qattan, Saudi Ambassador to South Africa Ghurm Al-Malhan, and Chairperson of the Council of Saudi Chambers Dr. Sami Al-Obaidy, in addition to ACWA Power Chairman Mohammad Abunayyan, and President and Chief Executive Officer Paddy Padmanathan. The CSP plant will go into construction later this year and feature solar energy storage technology that will allow solar energy to be utilized to generate electricity not only when the sun is shining but also through the night cumulatively dispatching 480,000 megawatt-hours per year. The CSP plant will use a central salt receiver technology with 12 hours of thermal storage allowing the plant to generate during the evening peak demand periods. ACWA Power Chairmain Abunayyan said: “We are pleased to enter into this agreement, which further strengthens our efforts supporting South Africa’s renewable energy program. We are committed to providing the country with the most advanced and versatile solar technology solutions which can efficiently and reliably produce clean energy throughout the 24-hour period if called upon to do so.”