South Africa makes top ten for solar
South Africa has now connected more than half a gigawatt of utility-scale solar and climbed into the world top ten, according to figures released today by Wiki-Solar.org. Four large scale solar plants have come online in the last month. These include two 66MWAC plants at Lesedi and Letatsi, developed by SolarReserve and Intikon, and connected in late May. They were joined in early June by the Herbert and Greefspan projects built by California-based Sunpower Corporation.
All four projects were part of Round 1 of the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP).
The installed capacity of utility-scale power plants in the leading countries in early June was:
First Division: The top ten world markets for utility-scale solar
The REIPPP seemed to get off to a slow start while connections were negotiated with the national power company Eskom, and contractors geared up for the first time in a new continent. There are still several other Round 1 plants under construction, and Rounds 2 and 3 have subsequently been awarded, so South Africa should be climbing further up the table in the coming months.
In fact Wiki-Solar's Philip Wolfe believes that, "France and Italy's position in the top ten may now be under threat. Substantial pipelines of projects, not only in South Africa, but also in Japan and Chile, suggest that they too will soon be contenders for solar power's First Division."
