In the vast, semiarid region near Postmasburg, in South Africa's Northern Cape Province, construction of one of the country's biggest renewable energy power plants is nearing completion.

The Redstone Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Project is expected to begin trial operations soon, eventually generating enough energy to power 200,000 households in South Africa, and thereby greatly alleviating the country's acute power shortage.

Energy has been a major area of cooperation between China and South Africa over the past years. During President Xi Jinping's visit to South Africa in August, in the presence of Xi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the two countries signed a number of cooperation deals in Pretoria, including agreements on emergency power, investment in renewable energy and the upgrade of South Africa's power grids.