The 50 MW Droogfontein solar power photovoltaic (PV) project, 15 km outside Kimberley, governed by the Sol Plaatje local municipality, in the Northern Cape, is on schedule to be completed by mid-2014, emerging-markets-focused power company Globeleq South Africa MD Mark Pickering informs Engineering News.
He says current activities on the site include the construction of the foundation of the high-voltage substation, the site secu- rity fence and buildings, and the operation building. PV module piling, racking and installation and electrical trenching and cabling are also taking place.
Pickering notes that, to date, about 10% of the 168 720 PV modules, which will convert energy from the sun into electricity that will be fed into State-owned power utility’s Eskom’s 132 kV distribution system, have been installed on the site. The project is also within budget.
The PV project is one of the first and also the largest of the solar facilities arising from the first bid window of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. Droogfontein, on which construction started in December 2012, will produce 82 674 MWh/y of electricity and avoid 79 368 t/y of carbon emissions; the project will also ensure water savings of 156-million litres a year.
He notes that, by its very nature, a PV plant is fairly straightforward to construct, as all components are manufactured for ease of assembly on the site.
Pickering says, during the project’s construction phase, about 70 workers will be employed on the site and, at the peak of construction, about 300 jobs will be created.
“The Droogfontein solar power project and its contractor will procure goods and services from the local community, where this is feasible. “During the 20-year operating period of the solar plant, about 20 long-term jobs will be created to operate and maintain the facility,” he concludes.