The PV power plants Dreunberg in the Eastern Cape province and Linde in the Northern Cape province are set to begin operation in the first and second half of 2014, respectively. They are being constructed under the second round of South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program (REIPPP). The Norwegian PV power plant developer Scatec Solar is responsible for the two PV projects. The company is well under way with the 75-megawatt Kalkbult project in South Africa with 84 SMA Sunny Central inverters. This project will be finished in Q3 2013.
“The cooperation with Scatec Solar and the excellent suitability of the SMA central inverters for the challenging climate conditions in South Africa have already proven themselves in the Kalkbult PV project," explains Dr. Jürgen Reinert, SMA Executive Vice President Technology. “There are also special functions of the SMA inverters for grid integration. Together with the SMA Power Plant Controller, complex requirements and control functions can be implemented, particularly for multi-megawatt power plants.” Therefore, individual requirements and complex control functions can be simply and efficiently performed.
SMA announced the expansion of its presence in South Africa’s market at the end of May, 2013 to provide capacity for the expected market growth in a timely manner and meet the local content requirements. SMA will also set up Sunny Central inverter production to strengthen existing sales and service structures.