Name and Location
De Aar photovoltaic (PV) solar plant project, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Client
The project is owned by a consortium, comprising Globeleq, Mainstream Renewable Power, Thebe Investment Corporation, The Rebuna Litsatsi Trust, Enzani Technologies and Usizo Engineering.

Project Description
The De Aar PV project is located outside De Aar on land owned by the Emthanjeni municipality, in the Northern Cape.

The project will cover an estimated 100 ha and will generate about 50 MW of clean renewable energy.

The facility will convert the sun’s energy into electricity using 167 580 PV panels and the electricity will be fed directly into the Eskom 132 kV distribution system. The plant will produce an estimated 85 458 MWh/y, enough to power about 21 200 houses a year.

The project will avoid carbon emissions of 82 040 t/y and save 162-million litres of water.

De Aar was among the first 18 solar PV projects, collectively representing 632 MW of capacity, to reach financial close in November 2012 as part of the South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). A total of 28 renewables projects were selected.

Value
R1.5-billion.

Duration
The facility is expected to begin operating in mid-2014.

Latest Developments
The De Aar solar project started supplying power to Eskom’s power grid in the De Aar municipality on December 3.

Although the project’s commercial operation date is scheduled for April 2014, the project will be able to produce enough power over the coming weeks to power the entire local town and neighbouring areas.

During the project’s commissioning process, the inverters were switched on for a time to check their integrity and reliability, during which time power was exported to the Eskom grid and consumed by Eskom customers.

Each inverter produced about 2.4 MW of peak power and it is expected that six of the 19 inverter areas will be commissioned by the end of December, resulting in about 14.4 MW of peak power being supplied to Eskom.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Siemens Southern Africa (engineering, procurement and construction contract), Schletter (solar panel mounting system) and Suntech (solar panels).

On Budget and on Time?
The De Aar solar PV project site has reached peak construction and its developers are optimistic that the project is on track to meet all critical milestones ahead of its official commercial operation date of April 2014.

Contact Details for Project Information
Globeleq, tel +44 20 7 234 5400, fax +44 20 7 234 5486 or email info@globeleq.com.
Siemens Southern Africa media relations, Hulisani Nemaxwi, tel + 27 11 652 267 or email hulisani.nemaxwi@siemens.com.
Mainstream Renewable Power South Africa project manager Savva Antonaidis, tel +27 21 657 4040, fax +27 21 671 5665 or email savaa.antoniadis@mainstreamrp.com.
Thebe Investment Corporation, tel +27 11 447 7800, fax +27 11 447 5502 or email info@thebe.co.za.
Enzani Technologies, tel +27 11 835 1880, fax +27 11 835 1885 or email info@enzani.co.za.
Usizo Engineering, tel +27 11 609 7560 or fax +27 11 609-7518.
Schletter, tel +27 11 608 3606 or email info@schletter.co.za.
Suntech public relations and investor relations, Ryan Scott Ulrich, tel +86 510 8531 8654 or email ryan.ulrich@suntech-power.com