South Africa has launched its first Solar Energy Farm in the Northwest Province on May 28, expected to commence for commercial operation in November. The 7-MW solar PV facility is located at Buffelspoort, 22 km outside Rustenburg, marking the first renewable energy project in the province.
It contains 11 inverters and 29,808 PV solar modules with a step up transformer to connect to the 88 kV substation. The farm will produce over 244 MWh of electricity to the country’s state-owned utility Eksom over a 20-year contract period.
The project was completed by local firm Momentous Energy with shareholders including Momentous Foundation Community Trust, Momentous Solar Farm, Momentous Technologies and Evolution One Fund – a specialized clean energy and resource efficiency investor in Southern Africa.
The current operations of RustMo1 are managed by Momentous Operations Services, which specializes in asset management services in the solar PV sector. The engineering contractor for the project is the juwi Holding AG, a German developer for renewable energy projects. juwi has set up a local subsidiary in South Africa – juwi Renewable Energies (Ltd.) Pty. This venture will further foster local job creation and skills development.
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