Global solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company Sterling and Wilson (S&W) has committed to executing 500 MW of photovoltaic (PV) power plants across Africa in the next three years.
This follows the recent commissioning of a 90 MW solar PV plant on behalf of Solar Capital in the Northern Cape.
Solar Capital last week inaugurated the second phase of its De Aar solar farm project, with De Aar 3 adding 90 MW of capacity to the overall project.
The EPC company’s scope of work included construction of a 132 kV substation and 15 km transmission line, including refurbishment of a 5 km line.
During installation of the solar power plant, S&W employed more than 90% unskilled employees from the local community.
It would also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the plant.
“The fact that S&W was selected ahead of well-entrenched international solar EPC companies to partner with Solar Capital De Aar 3 in constructing this 90 MW solar PV plant is an indicator of our engineering and project execution capabilities,” said S&W electrical and solar business president Bikesh Ogra.
A major challenge that S&W encountered while planning the project was finding a solution to reduce power generation losses while transmitting the power to the substation situated at a distance.
The plant was engineered to work at a high performance ratio of around 80%.