"The vision of President Xi (regarding the BRI) is a good one, as it supports all countries in development and infrastructure improvement," he said. "I think it's important to have collaborations with countries such as China that can provide expertise in areas where a country is desperately needy."

Regarding the Redstone project, Bhula said that by cooperating with PowerChina, using cutting-edge technologies to build the power plant, South Africa will improve its ability to build similar renewable energy projects on its own in the future.

"I think the expertise they bring in terms of concentrated solar power is fantastic. It's a huge learning process for us," he said. "With leading-edge technology, the Redstone project is actually revolutionary. It can provide 12 hours of energy storage, which means it can run for 24 hours, seven days a week, if need be."

Bryce Muller, a quality control engineer for the Redstone project who used to work for coal-powered plants in South Africa, said he hopes such major renewable energy projects will also reduce load shedding in the country.

Xie, the project's chief engineer, said that with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, he believes more renewable energy projects will be constructed in South Africa and other countries to meet the increasing demand for power and decarbonization efforts.