One of China’s biggest companies, the Fortune 500-listed PowerChina, is establishing itself among energy sector players seeking to offer solutions to the crippling blackouts predicted to last until 2027 in South Africa.
As one of the first utility-scale solar PV plants in South Africa, the development and construction began while the local renewables industry was still in its infancy.
The 75MW Letsatsi solar photovoltaic plant is being developed in the Free State of South Africa. The project, along with Lesedi PV plant, was initiated by the South Africa Department of Energy (DOE) under the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme (REIPPPP). Lesedi is a 75MW solar photovoltaic power project being developed in the Northern Cape province near Kimberly, South Africa.
South Africa’s new era of solar energy started with a stranger knocking on a Karoo farmhouse door in the early summer of 2010.
The contract for the implementation of the Kokerboom solar project that entails the construction of an 18.5 MWp capacity solar photovoltaic power plant in Karas, an area in Namibia that already has a number of renewable energy facilities including the 10 MWp Ejuva (2) solar power plants under development or in-service, has been awarded.
The solar water farm will harvest solar energy which are able to produce 50 kilowatts of energy and power two water pumps that run 24 hours a day and it turns salty water safely into drinkable water.