TotalEnergies Hydra Project – credit, released
French energy supermajor TotalEnergies recently inaugurated the largest hybrid renewable energy project in Africa that will generate 400 gigawatt-hours of electricity in South Africa.
Located in the Northern Cape province the Hydra Project combines a 216-MW solar photovoltaic plant with a 500 MWh battery energy storage system.
Developed and built with partners Hydra Storage Holding and Reatile Renewables, the facility will supply 75 MW of renewable electricity to the national grid continuously between 5:00 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
“We are delighted, together with our partners Reatile Renewables and Hydra Storage Holding, to bring the Hydra project into operation,” stated Magali Pailhé, Managing Director of TotalEnergies Southern Africa.
“It enables us to supply dispatchable renewable power to the South African grid, thereby strengthening the country’s energy security while decarbonizing its electricity generation. This project reinforces our renewable production capacity in South Africa, the continent’s largest power market in terms of electricity consumption.”
Joint venture partner Hydra Storage Holding is a South African renewable energy developer and independent power producer that has delivered more than 1 GW of large and medium-scale renewable energy projects across South Africa.
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The Hydra Project means Total, one of the world’s largest distributed oil, energy, and utility companies, now manages just under 36 GW of gross renewable power generation capacity.
Hydra will be the largest combined renewables/storage project on the continent, at least until Egypt completes its truly colossal joint venture along the Red Sea coast signed in March.
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To be developed in a partnership between the Egyptian firm Orascom Construction, French utility Engie, and Japanese conglomerate Toyota Tsusho, the complex is planned to include 6,000 megawatts of solar, wind, and battery capacity.
The largest renewable energy generation project is also found in Egypt, called the Benben Solar Park, which switched on 1.8 gigawatts of solar power in 2019.
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