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ART Solar boosts local solar PV module manufacturing capacity

23rd May 2013

By: Shirley le Guern

Creamer Media Correspondent

  

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South Africa’s first locally owned photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer, ART Solar, officially opened its Durban manufacturing plant on Thursday.

The plant, which Department of Energy deputy director-general of energy programmes and projects, Dr Wolsey Barnard, described as “a brave step forward” in a country that ordinarily imported renewable-energy technology, had the capacity to produce 250 000 PV modules a year – enough to generate 75 MW of electricity, which was sufficient to power at least 15 000 homes a year.

ART said the manufacturing plant was the largest and most modern PV module fabrication plant in Africa.

Manufacturing equipment, acquired from Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger Swiss Solar Systems, was installed at the Pinetown factory, in September last year, with the first PV module produced a month later. Full production started in January this year.

ART’s PV modules, which adhered to stringent International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specifications, were certified by independent test institute, TüV Rheinland, in Germany.

Speaking at the opening, ART chairperson Eshu Seevnarayan said the company envisaged playing a significant role in furthering the use of renewable energy throughout Africa.

As a result, the company developed PV modules that were suited to local climate conditions. Special encapsulants prevented delamination and yellowing in high-insolation conditions and ensured the extended service life of modules at elevated temperatures.

“Important considerations for us in establishing ART Solar were to maximise the local content of the modules, black economic empowerment, job creation and enhanced aesthetics. There is a perception that PV modules can be unattractive. But, with the latest designs, quality materials and manufacturing techniques, ART gives architects, designers and builders the freedom to be creative with this flexible building material with no compromise on performance,” he said.

The facility, which employed 18 operators and a management team of six people, was currently operating on a single shift. This would, however, be increased to three shifts within the next 8 to 12 months, with employee numbers to treble.

ART maintained a 35% to 40% local content level.

Dutch PV technology specialist Dr Ronald Lange who would serve as ART Solar COO for the company’s first year of operation, said South African manufacturers could learn from their international counterparts.

He noted that when developing PV, countries such as Germany learnt that there were three essential conditions that had to be met to create a sustainable and successful market – optimally designed support schemes, priority access for renewable energies into the grid and the reduction of administrative barriers.

He warned that, if the South African government wanted to meet job creation and skills transfer objectives through the acquisition and use of new technologies, it needed to rethink critical issues such as the formula used to calculate local content, which was currently being manipulated in favour of importers.

Lange said that, for the country to make renewable energy sustainable, it needed to define local content as the local manufacturing of 40% of the PV modules installed in the country, and not just having that number of modules assembled locally.

He said the country could establish state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, easily create the skills needed to manufacture PV products and meet globally competitive production costs; however, the fledgling PV industry needed temporary support to neutralise its lack of purchasing power.

Currently, South African manufacturers paid as much as 30% more for raw materials than their Asian counterparts.

He said users of electricity services should pay for this “local content” via a feed-in tariff, which was a proven tool to finance this. He pointed out, however, that this required greater transparency. While the costs associated with PV were transparent, there were often a lot of hidden costs when it came to fossil and nuclear energy sources.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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