Storm destroys massive solar plant in Upington

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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Video shows storm destroying massive solar plant in South Africa

The 100MW Ilanga concentrated solar plant (CSP) in Upington, known as Karoshoek Solar One, was hit by a violent storm on Tuesday, 11 March 2025, which caused significant damage to its solar array.

The plant began commercial operation in November 2018 and boasts a storage capacity of 500MWh. The project cost around R11 billion to complete.
 
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How are the ones in the UAE surviving those monster desert storms? Its like being sandpapered?
 
It might not actually be bad news.

The price of PV panels has dropped so much that CSP is becoming less economically viable. With the payout from the existing plant, it may be possible to replace it entirely with a PV-based system that offers a larger production output at a lower cost. This shift could lead to increased efficiency, reduced maintenance, and overall better long-term sustainability for solar energy generation.
 
neoprema said:
How are the ones in the UAE surviving those monster desert storms? Its like being sandpapered?
Click to expand...

Wonder if they are the same setup as this concave design or use normal flat panels.

This just seems obviously less strong to me.
 
Look at what happened in Texas during the severe winter storms—when temperatures plummeted, fossil fuel power plants failed to operate. Natural gas infrastructure froze, coal piles became unusable, and even some nuclear plants experienced issues. Meanwhile, renewable energy sources like wind and solar continued to contribute power.

Pudding McTwinkle said:
"Look, solar’s great, but after that storm, it’s clear—it’s a disaster, folks. You saw it, the damage was huge, and we’re left picking up the pieces, not a good situation."

- Trump, Maybe
Click to expand...
 
Pudding McTwinkle said:
"Look, solar’s great, I know solar very well, it’s unbelievable that we can do that, Have you seen this plant it maybe even greater than my election victory. But it kills the birds and after that storm, it’s clear—it’s a disaster, folks. You saw it, we’re monitoring the situation very closely. the damage was huge, and we’re left picking up the pieces, not a good situation. Let me tell you."

- Trump, Maybe
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FTFY
 
DStvNothingOn said:
It might not actually be bad news.

The price of PV panels has dropped so much that CSP is becoming less economically viable. With the payout from the existing plant, it may be possible to replace it entirely with a PV-based system that offers a larger production output at a lower cost. This shift could lead to increased efficiency, reduced maintenance, and overall better long-term sustainability for solar energy generation.
Click to expand...
And the storage for that new PV? Is that cheaper?
 
DStvNothingOn said:
Look at what happened in Texas during the severe winter storms—when temperatures plummeted, fossil fuel power plants failed to operate. Natural gas infrastructure froze, coal piles became unusable, and even some nuclear plants experienced issues. Meanwhile, renewable energy sources like wind and solar continued to contribute power.
Click to expand...
Yeah solar is really known to work well when it's under snow or cloudy. The wind might have helped but the solar not so much.
 
Lupus said:
And the storage for that new PV? Is that cheaper?
Click to expand...

Without googling is this one of those salt/sand storage ones? No indication that was damaged?

BNEF-battery-storage-cost-survey-2024-1024x435.jpg
 
SauRoNZA said:
It often works better under cloud cover.
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I really wish that was true, that way I could've cut my power bill by a lot.
Yes it's true there can be cloud flaring where the generation spikes, but it doesn't produce, anywhere near as much as it would without cloud cover.
 
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