At a maximum rate of 3 000 solar panels a day, Droogfontein Solar Power is pleased to announce the completion of their module installation. “We are pleased at the speed of panel installations that our crew has achieved,” said Kevin Foster, Project Manager for Droogfontein Solar Power. “Reaching a good pace of 0.8 MW installed per day at peak production, Droogfontein is comparable to international projects,” added Foster.
Droogfontein Solar Power achieved this construction milestone on 30 September, when the last of the 168 720 modules were installed, a phase that took 5 months to complete. Considering that this is the first round of Independent Power Producers projects in South Africa, and given the size of this project, reaching this milestone is a significant achievement for the site staff.
The construction team will continue its hard work on this project for the next few months to ensure that it remains on track. Having completed the module installation, all the cabling will now need to be connected from the modules to the substation, with the next major milestone being the project’s connection to the Eskom grid. “We still expect this project to be completed ahead of our Commercial Operation Date in April 2013,” concluded Foster.