Ford’s massive Pretoria factory solar plant can power more than 12,000 homes
Ford South Africa has announced it now supplies more than a third of its Silverton Assembly Plant’s energy needs with solar power.
The company partnered with SolarAfrica on the first phase of its Project Blue Oval renewable energy programme, resulting in the construction of a 13.5MW solar power plant, sufficient to carry 35% of the Pretoria plant’s energy demands.
The power is drawn from 30,226 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels installed on the roofs of 3,610 parking bays.
Ford said that makes it one of the largest solar carports in the world.
“Approximately 59 tonnes of steel and 315 tons of aluminium were used for the locally manufactured solar carports,” Ford stated.
“More than 5,000 metres of medium and low-voltage cabling was used to connect the solar PV panels to 120 three-phase 100kW inverters and eight transformers, before being fed into the Silverton plant.”
Ford claimed the 13.5MW capacity was enough to power almost 224,000 light bulbs or 12,171 average households for an entire year.
The installation took 599 days and 35,000 man-hours to complete, supporting 121 jobs in the process.
Ford published a video on YouTube showing some of the key moments in the plant’s construction process.
The vast solar array as seen from above.
SolarAfrica CEO David McDonald commended Ford South Africa for being the first automotive manufacturer in the country to integrate renewables in its operations at such a large scale.
“We are proud to see the financial and environmental benefits this landmark project addresses,” McDonald stated.
“We hope that this project encourages many more original equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive sector to aggressively adopt renewables and become more sustainable operations.”
The Silverton plant produces the Ranger bakkie for domestic sales and exports to more than 100 international markets.
Ford South Africa’s vice president for operations, Ockert Berry, said the long-term power purchase agreement with SolarAfrica would significantly reduce the plant’s energy costs, improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
“This project proudly puts the Silverton Assembly Plant on the map as part of Ford’s commitment to sustainability as we migrate our energy supply from fossil fuels to environmentally-friendly, renewable resources,” Berry said.
“Despite increasing our production capacity to 200,000 vehicles per year, the solar project delivers on our promise of reducing our impact on the environment and contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
Ford estimated the array would eliminate the equivalent of 20,072 tons of carbon dioxide per annum.
“It also supports Ford Motor Company’s ambitious global targets to use 100% carbon-free electricity across its manufacturing operations by 2035, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” the company stated.
Below are more photos of the 13.5MW carport-based solar PV installation at the Ford Silverton plant.
Loading ...