South Africa's biggest solar farm

4.8 Billion Rand for 500000 panels.
That works out at R9600 per panel.
Rather expensive I would say
 
The annual energy output is tiny in comparison that’s why it’s relevant. The O&M overhead at that scale due to the number of panels (millions) and the surface area would be insane.



You would have to build the De Aar PV plant 42.7 times as big as it is today just to match the annual electricity output of Koeberg. Electricity that we all need.

The PV plant is a good effort nevertheless.

And it will run for 20+ years with little to no maintenance from an incredibly small work force in comparison.

So yes it takes up a lot more space, but how does it looks over 20 years kw for kw?
 
Just looks like such a waste. All that land for so little result? Meh.

The land isn’t being used either which way, so nothing is lost.

I mean jeez De Aar has been dying for decades since trains stopped being a thing, now it’s almost relevant again.
 
Why use desert when you can use a roof.
Works for me 85% of the time.

Indeed.

The wonderful thing about solar is that it can be distributed and with very little effort made to be near invisible.

Solar Farms are really only necessary as mega projects.

Where it will really make sense will he modern day gated complexes or business parks that just put it in from the very start as part of the design and have no Eskom reliance from the very start.
 
4.8 Billion Rand for 500000 panels.
That works out at R9600 per panel.
Rather expensive I would say

Going to guess these aren’t normal sized 500ish watt panels but something much bigger.

At least I would hope so.
 
Going to guess these aren’t normal sized 500ish watt panels but something much bigger.

At least I would hope so.

175MW with over half a million modules seems like 335w panels.
 
4.8 Billion Rand for 500000 panels.
That works out at R9600 per panel.
Rather expensive I would say

R4.8bn was the total project cost, not just panels which on big projects are only a fraction of the infrastructure. That includes site preparation, installation, wiring, inverters, etc.

Edit: 473 hectares requires more wiring than your roof at home...
 
R4.8bn was the total project cost, not just panels which on big projects are only a fraction of the infrastructure. That includes site preparation, installation, wiring, inverters, etc.

Thats my thinking as well. They also probably did preperation for future phases as well so the total cost per unit should come down as they expand.
 
Yeah that’s bullshit pricing then.

Should be 1/3rd of that or even less considering the bulk.

Dude, there are a million costs over and above the panels themselves that have to be factored in, they don’t just fall into the ground ready to use. For example I’ve been on projects where logistics alone can take up to 25% of the contract sum, never mind things like km’s of copper earthing cables and producing concrete in the middle of the desert. And in South Africa of course local content requirements are so high that foreign companies need a big team of lawyers just to understand BEE never mind complying with it. And that’s before you have to select and train and of course pay local people to be crane drivers and bricklayers etc etc. And I’m really just scratching the surface here.
 
Dude, there are a million costs over and above the panels themselves that have to be factored in, they don’t just fall into the ground ready to use. For example I’ve been on projects where logistics alone can take up to 25% of the contract sum, never mind things like km’s of copper earthing cables and producing concrete in the middle of the desert. And in South Africa of course local content requirements are so high that foreign companies need a big team of lawyers just to understand BEE never mind complying with it. And that’s before you have to select and train and of course pay local people to be crane drivers and bricklayers etc etc. And I’m really just scratching the surface here.

Oh for sure.

I accepted the quoted values as purely panel costs.

If it’s all in it makes a lot more sense.
 
What we really should have in SA is a 'Green Energy Bank' that can provide funding for the Average Joe Soap at prime-less for solar projects. Imagine if all the middle class/upper class households each have a dedicated solar system of some sort to alleviate the burden from Eskom? Of course, in the long run it would be bad for Eskom as there goes a potential revenue stream, but to help avoid load shedding over the next 5-10years, it is a real solution.
 
The land isn’t being used either which way, so nothing is lost.

I mean jeez De Aar has been dying for decades since trains stopped being a thing, now it’s almost relevant again.
We could have given it to Julius and tell him it's the stolen land.
 
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