Electricity and Control June 2025

Renewable energy + industrial sustainability: Products + services

Design automation for utility-scale solar developments

Africa is increasingly harnessing its solar energy potential. In 2024, the continent added 2.5 GW of new solar generation capacity, with utility-scale projects making up 72% of this growth. To support this continuing growth, new computational so•ware has been introduced to the solar energy market. Developed by 7SecondSolar, AUTOPV is designed to empower energy engineers to optimise and accelerate solar farm development through design automation. One of the biggest hurdles in developing large-scale solar farms has always been the time and complexity of the design process. AUTOPV enables energy engineers to complete in days what once took months. Solar PV design is a highly iterative process, requiring early design decisions that determine costs and timelines. Later equipment and design changes are o•en impossible, even if they could lead to better yield, improved longevity, or cost benefits. “Our so•ware automates engineering-quality design outputs, generating precise bills of quantity, detailed engineering reports, AutoCAD drawings, and multiple design variations for the same site,” says Paul Nel, Chief Executive O”icer at 7SecondSolar. “This helps energy engineers and developers compare cost and energy yield scenarios easily.” Designing a utility-scale solar farm is a complex puzzle – one where even the smallest adjustments can lead to major cost savings and e”iciency gains. This was evident in a recent 214 MW solar project where AUTOPV was used to generate eight di”erent design variations in just one morning. “By making small tweaks, such as adjusting the width of corridors or repositioning string inverters, we identified two most-feasible designs. One could reduce cable costs by $1 million, and the other could improve energy e”iciency enough to generate an additional $50 000 in annual revenue,” Nel adds. “These advantages could In response to South Africa’s increasing demand for reliable and cost-e”ective renewable energy, Nordex Energy South Africa has confirmed the market readiness of its most powerful onshore wind turbine to date: the N175/6.X. This follows the Nordex Group’s successful installation of the turbine on its in-house developed hybrid concrete-steel tower in Santow, Germany, earlier this year. Built on the established Delta4000 platform – already being deployed at two wind farms under construction in the Eastern Cape – the N175/6.X features a hub height of up to 179 metres. This next-generation turbine is designed to maximise energy output, particularly in low- to medium-wind areas such as Mpumalanga, where taller towers can access stronger, more stable wind flows. The Santow installation is the highest Nordex tower yet built and the second deployment of the N175/6.X. The hybrid tower design draws on more than 15 years of Nordex’s experience with concrete tower technology, including in South Africa, and has been refined to support increased hub heights and enhanced structural e”iciency. The change in scope from N163/6.X to N175/6.X relates mainly to the longer and optimised blade and subsequent Advancing wind power technology

have been completely missed using a conventional design approach, which also would have taken weeks or possibly months to produce comparable design iterations. With AUTOPV, we did this in hours – with fully detailed, build-ready drawings showing exact cable routes and inverter placements.” In Malawi, solar energy is emerging as a powerful tool to drive economic and social transformation. The Golomoti Solar Project, a 28.5 MWp solar PV and battery storage installation, is a prime example of how smart engineering technology can overcome complex site challenges. Engineers used AUTOPV to tackle the project’s intricate design requirements, including working around protected baobab trees in the centre of the site. By generating multiple layout configurations and equipment selections, the engineering team was able to identify a number of feasible design iterations in a matter of hours. For developers and investors, this level of precision means greater control over project costs and e”iciency from the outset. Africa’s push towards a renewable energy mix is intensifying and there is a growing need for solutions that enable faster, smarter, and cost-e”ective utility scale solar PV development. Africa’s drive towards renewable energy is intensifying and there is a growing need for solutions that enable faster, smarter, and cost-e•ective utility-scale solar PV development. structural component reinforcements to carry the higher loads induced by the blade, while maintaining the underlying technological design concept Robert Timmers, Managing Director of Nordex Energy South Africa, says, “With more wind projects moving to inland areas due to grid access constraints, technology that can maximise output in lower wind regimes becomes more important. Hub height plays a key role in that, and the hybrid tower supports these requirements as well as o”ering flexibility in construction and logistics.”

The N175/6.X wind turbine developed by the Nordex Group has a hub height up to 179 metres. [Photo credit: Nordex Group/Ulrich Mertens]

JUNE 2025 Electricity + Control

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