First Commercial Solar Power Plant In South Africa Inaugurated
South Africa's first 500kW concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) power plant representing the COP17
flagship project was officially inaugurated by President Dr. Jacob G. Zuma on Sunday, December 4. As the solar flagship legacy project for the
17th annual Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the inauguration ceremony was attended
by close to 200 distinguished guests including amongst others, President of
COP17 and Minister of International Relations & Cooperation, Minister of
Environmental Affairs, Minister of Energy, Minister of Economic Development as
well as French, German and British governmental officials and their receptive
ambassadors.
The solar plant located in Hazelmere, next to Durban,
installed by Soitec and developed in partnership with the Department of
Environmental Affairs (DEA) and eThekwini Municipality, was constructed in just one month to showcase the country's
commitment to lowering its carbon footprint through the deployment of renewable
energy during COP17. Group Five, an integrated construction services, materials
and infrastructure investment group operating in Africa, was the construction
partner for the project.
In his keynote address, President Dr. Jacob G. Zuma said,
"This is South Africa's first large scale offering within the Clean Energy
Arena, but it is not the last. We congratulate all partners in this project. We
are ready to forge and support those partnerships that will enable us to embark
on the journey to a low carbon economy, while stimulating economic development
and creating jobs," added President Zuma.
In her speech, Minister of Energy Ms Dipuo Peters said,
"It is encouraging that this project has already started contributing towards
the Integrated Resource Plan 2010 which outlines 42% of renewable energy by
2030 and leaves a legacy for COP 17. This is an exciting development for South
Africa and will be the forerunner of a range of renewable energy projects
currently being developed in the country. This CPV is connected to the
electricity distribution supply grid of the city to augment the power supply to
the ICCC where the UNFCCC COP 17 is being hosted to reduce the carbon footprint
of the event. This clearly demonstrates the state of readiness in the
municipal's energy planning and installation of this 500kw as a first phase. It
is even more encouraging to see that the Municipality is a buyer of this clean
electricity."
"Soitec is proud
to continue supporting the country's young but growing renewable energy sector.
We are committed to South Africa. No other company has taken a similar approach
and we are ready to take the next step," commented president and CEO of Soitec
André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé. "It is a tangible commitment from South African
government to "˜work together to save tomorrow today'."
The 500 kW solar plant consists of 32 two-axis tracking
systems to ensure that concentrated sunlight remains focused on the solar cells with a high degree of
precision throughout the day, delivering constant power output feeding into the
area's power-supply grid. The Fresnel lens used in the modules focuses sunlight
concentrated by a factor of 500 on the high-performance solar cells beneath for
a world-leading module efficiency of close to 30 percent
