Name and Location
Droogfontein solar photovoltaic (PV) power project, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Client
The project is owned by a consortium, including Globeleq, Mainstream Renewable Power, Thebe Investment Corporation, the Droogfontein Communal Property Association, the Droogfontein Solar Park Trust, Enzani Technologies and Usizo Engineering.

Project Description
The Droogfontein solar power project is located 15 km outside Kimberley, in the Sol Plaatje municipality, in the Northern Cape.

The project is expected to generate 50 MW of clean renewable power at peak production, converting energy from the sun into electricity using 168 720 PV panels and feeding the electricity directly into Eskom’s 132 kV distribution system.

The plant 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.

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.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
Construction started in December 2012 and is expected to be completed in mid-2014.

Latest Developments
The supply of electricity from the 50 MW Droogfontein solar project to the national grid is expected to start soon, as the commissioning of the plant gets under way.

Once commissioning has started, a small amount of electricity generated by the plant will be supplied to State-owned power utility Eskom’s grid to check the equipment’s reliability.

If no problems are encountered and the reliability of the equipment is verified, the power from the inverter area will continue to flow to the Eskom grid.

Six of the plant’s 19 inverter areas, which each produce about 2.4 MW of peak power, will be commissioned by the end of this year, resulting in about 14.4 MW of peak power being supplied to Eskom before the December/January construction holiday.

The project is expected to be fully operational before the planned commercial operation date in April 2014.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Siemens Southern Africa (engineering procurement and construction).

On Budget and on Time?
The project is within budget and on schedule to be completed by mid-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 2167 or email hulisani.nemaxwi@siemens.com.
Mainstream Renewable Power South Africa project manager Kevin Foster, tel +27 21 657 4040, fax +27 21 671 5665 or email kevin.foster@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.