In South Africa, juwi has brought the Waterloo solar park (86 MW) to the grid, thus completing the construction of a 250 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) portfolio. The company has also taken over operations and maintenance services.
Despite the corona-related lockdown, the South African subsidiary of the German project developer for renewable energies, juwi, was able to complete three utility-scale solar parks in the last few months of 2020. The last of the three projects, the Waterloo solar park, was successfully connected to the grid in November 2020. The 86 MW solar PV plant is located approximately 10 km outside the city of Vryburg, South Africa, and supplies clean electricity for 84 000 households. The project is part of a 250 MW solar PV portfolio that juwi built for the South African insurance group Old Mutual Alternative Investments. With the commissioning, not only has the construction of the portfolio is been completed, but the company has also exceeded the mark of 3000 MW of installed PV power.
With the signing of power purchase agreements between energy supplier Eskom and several independent power generation companies (Independent Power Producers and IPP), a more than two-year standstill concerning the further expansion of renewable energies ended in April 2018. Since then, the South African renewable energy market has picked up speed again. An important component in this has been the 250 MW portfolio that juwi implemented for Old Mutual.
The portfolio consists of the three South African solar parks: Waterloo (86 MW), near Vryburg, Bokamoso South Africa (78 MW), near the city of Leeudoringstad, and Droogfontain 2 (86 MW), located near the diamond city of Kimberly in the Northern Cape province. Construction began in spring 2019. The last project that was successfully handed over to the operator was the Waterloo solar park in November 2020, despite the corona-related restrictions.
Juwi will also participate in new projects in the upcoming tender rounds for renewable energies.
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Energy Global’s Winter 2020 issue
The Winter issue of Energy Global provides a range of technical articles covering technological advancements and future outlooks in the renewables sector, from companies including CorPower Ocean, Rystad Energy, Black & Veatch, Voltalia, FUERGY, and more.