Construction World May 2015

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

assembly plant FIRST CARBON-NEUTRAL MAN Truck & Bus South Africa has officially announced the conversion of its Pinetown assembly plant to solar power. The complete truck and bus-chassis assembly plant is now capable of operating entirely off solar energy and is not only the first 100% carbon-neutral truck production site in Africa but also within MAN’s global production network.

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ciently accommodate the solar panels, but also to install skylights and thermal insula- tion material to reduce demand for electric lighting and to make our buildings cooler for our operators,” explains Kayser. Of the 10 000 square-metres of roofing covering all buildings at MAN’s Pinetown plant, 6 300 square-metres have been utilised to accommodate the PV installation. The 580 kW system is capable of generating approximately 810 000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of power per annum, providing a surplus of energy that can be supplied to the metropol- itan (eThekwini) grid. Alan Swart, managing director of Solaray, the company responsible for designing the R10-million PV system for MAN Pinetown says, “We sourced state-of- the-art equipment including inverters and solar panels from Europe which are able to generate power even in cloudy conditions, as well as mounting equipment from China. “The PV system is currently grid-tied but is capable of becoming either semi- grid-tied or a completely off-grid system with the inclusion of a genset or battery system respectively.” The PV system is linked to a web-based monitoring system that reports daily power

According to Heiko Kayser, head of production at the assembly plant, “installation of the solar, or photovoltaic system, commenced

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cant step in terms of MAN’s environmental commitment, but it also shows its long term commitment to the region and it’s future. “Our products and services are all aimed to minimise their carbon footprint, and it is great to see that even our assembly plant contributes in this regard” says Du Plessis. With its abundant sunshine, Pinetown is a prime location to implement solar energy solutions and Kayser and his team procured expertise from KwaZulu-Natal to design and install the new photovoltaic (PV) system. “Prior to rolling out the PV project, we refurbished our entire roofing system at a cost of over R5-million to not only effi-

in August 2014 and was completed in less than six months. The project forms part of MAN’s global Climate Strategy to reduce carbon emissions at its production sites in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America by 25 percent by 2020.” According to the MAN Climate Strategy vision, the organisation, “will reduce CO 2 emissions at MAN sites by improving energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal), generating energy using combined heat and power (CHP) plants, and through integrated energy-man- agement technology and organisation.” Geoff du Plessis, managing director of MAN Truck & Bus in South Africa, confirms that this investment is not only a signifi-

“Our products and services are all aimed to minimise their carbon footprint, and it is great to see that even our assembly plant contributes in this regard.”

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