Norway-based Scatec Solar and its partners have completed the works on the 258MW Upington solar power complex, located in South Africa.

The companies have in fact grid-connected and started commercial operations for the 86MW Dyason’s Klip 2 solar plant, which has the capacity to produce 217GWh of clean energy annually.

Scatec Solar CEO Raymond Carlsen said: “We are proud to have achieved this major milestone. Power supply is considered critical infrastructure, and we are pleased to be supporting South African power supply with renewable energy to another 40,000 households annually.”

The Upington solar power complex is expected to generate 650GWh of renewable energy annually, which is sufficient to power nearly 120,000 households while offsetting more than 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

In April 2015, the three projects in Upington were awarded in the fourth bidding round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPP) in South Africa.

Scatec Solar holds 42% in the Upington project while Norfund owns an 18% stake. Upington’s community has a 5% stake in the project, while the remaining 35% equity is held by South African Black investor H1 Holdings.

Last October, Scatec Solar and its partners completed the 390MW Benban project in Egypt by connecting the last of the six 65MW solar power plants to the power grid.

Located near Aswan in Upper Egypt, the project is part of the 1.8GW Benban solar park.

Scatec Solar, along with its partners KLP Norfund and Africa 50, signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Government of Egypt in April 2017 to supply clean electricity generated by the six solar plants for a period of 25 years.