Clean energy and social justice for South AfricaThe Bokpoort solar power plant is located the Northern Cape Province and saves carbon emissions by generating electricity from solar power, replacing fossil fuel-based power plants. The projects contributes to improving energy supply and living conditions for the local population. 90 percent of the electricity fed into South Africa's national grid is still produced by coal-fired power plants. These cause massive CO2-emissions and air pollution.The solar power project uses the abundantly available, free source of solar energy to generate clean and safe electricity. The plant is made up of state-of-the-art parabolic troughs and has a maximum total capacity of 50 megawatt. In combination with a modern thermal storage system, which may deliver stored energy for up to nine hours, the solar park produces up to 224 gigawatt hours annually. The project won the prize as "Large scale renewable project of the year" at the Africa Utility Week Industry Awards 2016 - 2017.How does solar energy help fight global warming?Since energy from solar panels is created without burning fossil fuels, it is considered emission-free. The growth of renewable energy production is essential to prevent global warming and secure energy supplies for the future. The amount of emissions saved by a solar energy project is calculated using the baseline method: how much CO2 would be released by generating the same amount of energy using standard energy production methods for the region?