Electricity + Control 2019

ENGINEERING THE FUTURE

Installation of solar panels in progress at KKI.

Solar heat systems at scale 15 May 2019, saw the Austrian Ambassador in South Africa officially launch the first solar district heating system and the largest solar process heat system in Sub- Saharan Africa. Both major SOLTRAIN projects, the district solar water heating plant for the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and the solar pro- cess heat plant for the Klein Karoo International (KKI) tannery in Oudtshoorn, repre- sent the use of solar energy at significant scale and will save millions in energy costs over the lifetime of the plants.

Take Note!

1 These projects represent two firsts in different ap- plications of large-scale solar energy systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Such landmark developments put the SOLTRAIN projects firmly on the renewables table and point to the development of further successful systems across the SADC region.

S OLTRAIN – the Southern African Solar Ther- mal Training and Demonstration Initiative – is a regional initiative aimed at building capacity and demonstrating the implementation of solar ther- mal systems in the SADC region. It is funded by the Austrian Development Agency and co-funded by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). In South Africa the programme is managed by the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES) at Stellenbosch University, and the South African National Energy Development Insti- tute (SANEDI), in partnership with AEE-Institute for SustainableTechnologies (AEE INTEC) from Austria. Werner Weiss, Director of AEE INTEC, said at the launch, “SOLTRAIN is the most important and most successful know-how transfer project that AEE INTEC carries out worldwide. The two solar thermal systems launched today were built as part of SOLTRAIN and are the two largest solar ther- mal systems south of the Sahara. We are proud to have supported our South African partners to design and build them.” Weiss also announced that the success of the SOLTRAIN programme to date will see it continu- ing into a fourth phase, from July 2019 to Decem- ber 2022. He noted that: “With a broad transition to solar thermal systems for hot water preparation in the residential as well as the commercial and industrial

sectors, the electricity sector in the SADC region could be massively relieved and, moreover, con- tribute to the reduction of CO 2 emissions, since most power plants in the region are run on coal.” Wits Junction Wits Junction is a complex of 14 student resi- dence buildings, accommodating more than 1 100 students. The district heating project combines solar, co-generation and gas heating techno- logies and serves the hot water needs of all the residence buildings from one centralised hot wa- ter plant room. The installation includes a 600 m 2 solar water heating plant using 10 m 2 Austrian- manufactured collectors. The design team involved BlackDot Energy as project leader and appointed engineering com-

pany, DSB and Holms and Friends, which handled the solar construction. The first of its kind, the Wits Junction district water heating project combines solar, co-generation and gas heating technologies, to serve 14 student residence buildings.

Electricity + Control

JUNE 2019

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