Powerway PV SA and Sungrow have announced the two companies will be opening a solar inverter manufacturing facility in South Africa.
Situated at Coega Industrial Development Zone in Port Elizabeth, the plant will be the largest of its kind outside of China.
Once built, inverters rolling off the production line won’t be sitting around waiting to be purchased – Powerway PV SA’s pipeline of projects will make good use of the units and allow the factory to operate at full capacity during its first year.
The facility is expected to begin full capacity production sometime between June and the end of this year – and with little in the way of competition in terms of locally built solar inverters, the two companies are expecting great success.
Powerway has executed the construction of solar farms in Europe, North America, Asia as well as Africa totalling over 680MW. It was also the first company to bring third party solar finance to South Africa. Powerway has big plans in the country; aiming to create over 2,500 jobs and to also construct a solar panel factory plus a mounting system production facility.
“With its irradiation resource second to none, South Africa is the best country to develop solar energy,” said Benson Wu, CEO of Powerway Renewable Energy Co. Ltd earlier this month
“With the net metering practice in place, added with our leasing model, I believe South Africa will be one of the biggest solar markets in the world. Powerway is proud to be part of it.”
Sungrow is Asia’s largest inverter manufacturer and the third largest globally; with only SMA and Power-One ahead of it. Sungrow has been making inroads in Australia, where its inverters are a popular choice in home solar power installations.
In other recent Sungrow news, the company is partnering in two solar farms totalling around 100MW capacity in two regions in Gansu Province, China.
