More than 312,000 solar panels are now supplying power at Kalkbult in South Africa’s Northern Cape region after being connected to the regional grid last week.
Built under the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP); the facility will generate over 135 million kWh of clean electricity a year – enough to provide the power needs of 33,000 households.
Construction commenced in November last year and more than 600 employees contributed towards the 75MW plant being completed three months ahead of schedule.
The solar panels are mounted on 156 km of substructure and transmit electricity via SMA inverters and 42 Transformer Compact Stations to a HV sub-station built for the project.
84 SMA Sunny Central 800CP inverters are being used at the facility, along with 840 Sunny String-Monitors.
The Kalbult solar farm is one of three major projects being constructed by Scatec Solar. The two other plants, at Linde in the Northern Cape and Dreunberg in the Eastern Cape, will be completed next year. Combined, the three projects will supply electricity equivalent to the use of 90,000 households.
Established in 2007, Scatec Solar is owned by Scatec Group and Itochu Corporation and has a portfolio consisting of more than 300 MW of installed solar power systems.
Like Australia, South Africa enjoys substantial solar resources and large solar farms will become a more common feature across its landscape. In June, we reported Google had invested in the Jasper Power Project, a 94MW solar PV facility that will be one of the largest solar installations on the continent.
According to the South African government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the nation is expected to reach 8,400 MW of installed solar capacity plus 8,400 MW of wind power capacity by 2030.
