Telkom’s huge solar power plant – photos

Telkom will soon launch its photovoltaic solar farm at its campus in Centurion, the first stage of a sustainability drive at the company.

The farm will produce just over 3MW of power and cover roughly 1,800 car ports, with the first megawatt set to go live on 16 May 2016.

Every 2-3 weeks after that, another megawatt will go live – until all three phases of the farm are active.

Solar panels are mounted on angled car port roofs. Telkom said it reconfigured the parking on its campus to ensure maximum gain throughout the day.

In addition to configuring the car ports with the solar panels in mind, Telkom said it re-engineered the parking structures to handle gale-force winds.

Telkom’s power consumption

Telkom said that due to the two data centres on its campus, its power consumption peaks at around 7.4MW every day.

The data centres alone account for 4MW of consumption.

This means that when its solar farm is producing electricity at its maximum capacity, it will cover roughly half of the company’s peak power needs.

Telkom said it used the latest solar panel technology available, which is heat resistant, wind resistant, and hail resistant. The panels have a 25-year lifespan.

Telkom said its aim is to go off the grid, becoming fully sustainable by adding gas generators and battery backups.

It is also considering adding rain and grey water harvesting to the mix.

Car chargers

Telkom also decided to install car charging points on its campus.

This means that users of the car park with an electric car would be able to charge them for free when on the campus.

Photos of Telkom’s solar farm are shown below.

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