Pictures of Ford's massive 13.5MW solar plant at Pretoria Factory

[TheChamp]

sure there is a team of people employed just to maintain it, nice way to create employment
as that many panels can/will fail, and somebody will have to maintain/fix them

next question is what happens next? cover the entire plant with Panels as well?

That's what the company that installed them is there for.

 

[TheChamp]

I wonder how they deal with panel failures. It's very hard to find stock of the same panel as was bought last time and as I understand it, you need a to have the panels in your series string quite closely matched, can't just throw any old replacement in there.

Actually, it's likely not a big deal on that scale. If one panel in the whole plant fails, then just make that string have 1 less panel, if a bunch of panels fail, just replace one whole string with whatever new panels you can source and use the remaining same type panels as spares in the strings with failures.

Of all the components of the system panels are the least troublesome, they just sit there and do what they are supposed to do.

 

[pinball wizard]

I object.

You must have meant "massive™".

 

[ShaunSA]

Macro Springfield had something like this

Didn't see it when we were there on Sunday

 

[Dan C]

and one wage disagreement and it will be gone. lol

And here we go.... F all is good enough for you folks. Why stay in this country ? Are you related to @marine1 ?

 

[Lupus]

Panels are impressive but pictures of the battery bank would be even more impressive, pity no one was interested in that.

probably don't have one and more then likely it's grid tied.

 

[s0lar]

Of course there is a Ford plant in Pretoria. Where else do 99.9% of the Raptor sales go?

 

[GhostSixFour]

Panels are impressive but pictures of the battery bank would be even more impressive, pity no one was interested in that.

Would it make sense for them to have batteries though? It's a huge expense, and they only need electricity during normal working hours - when the sun is also out. I'm assuming this covers their critical infrastructure during bouts of loadshedding during working hours, and lessens their bill per month only.

 

[Messugga]

Would it make sense for them to have batteries though? It's a huge expense, and they only need electricity during normal working hours - when the sun is also out. I'm assuming this covers their critical infrastructure during bouts of loadshedding during working hours, and lessens their bill per month only.

The Silverton plant runs 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.

 

[GhostSixFour]

The Silverton plant runs 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.

For real? TIL. Thanks.

 

[Messugga]

For real? TIL. Thanks.

Yup. Turns out those Rangers don't build themselves. Not even joking, that's why they're running three shifts.

 

[Pak Fa Fui]

All that investment, 30 000 panels and only covers 35% of their usage.
Good for the books and corporate social responsibility but still so insufficient

 

[Shadowchaser1]

Weren't there articles of Telkom, Shoprite, Checkers making use of Solar a long time ago. Would be interesting if you could see their savings & what Eskom is losing. Which Corps are making use of Solar?

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

All that investment, 30 000 panels and only covers 35% of their usage.
Good for the books and corporate social responsibility but still so insufficient

Production runs through the night, and even daylight hours depends on the sun being high enough to hit the panels.

Also still only the first phase...

 

[AlphaJohn]

Lucky bastad that got that tender....

 

[SauRoNZA]

Weren't there articles of Telkom, Shoprite, Checkers making use of Solar a long time ago. Would be interesting if you could see their savings & what Eskom is losing. Which Corps are making use of Solar?

Checkers installation is the nicest I've seen....because you don't see it at all until you look for it.

Very cleverly integrated in the roof of their parking areas.

 

[ShakeSpeer]

What if all those panels starts leaking oil ?

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Weren't there articles of Telkom, Shoprite, Checkers making use of Solar a long time ago. Would be interesting if you could see their savings & what Eskom is losing. Which Corps are making use of Solar?

FNB:

Netcare:

And probably a bunch of others. These 20% increases that Eskom is asking for each year doesn't come without reason...

 

[Creag]

Nice array ... making a positive difference.

 

[Priapus]

All those panels running to a Sunsynk inverter?

Uhm...

Show me an inverter that can take 30k panels, and support 13.5mw of generation.