November 15th, 2020 by Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai
The Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa’s factory in Silverton, Pretoria, South Africa is getting a massive 13. 5 megawatt (MW) solar system. This will make it one of the largest solar PV systems installed at a factory worldwide. The system will have solar carports enough to cover 4,200 parking bays. The PV plant will cost R135 million (US$8.7 million). This means the grid-tied project will come in at about $0.64/W, which is pretty impressive for a carport system.
The Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa wants to have the factory fully self-sufficient and powered by 100% green energy by 2024 by adding biomass, biogas, and bio syngas to the generation mix. South Africa has been experiencing periodic blackouts as the utility company struggles to meet demand, and has been forced to implement a power rationing program known as load shedding. This power rationing has resulted an in increase in the number of firms adopting solar plus storage systems, especially in the commercial and industrial (C&I) space as large corporations look for cheaper electricity as well as power security through long-term corporate PPAs with independent power providers.