Page 12 - AfrElec Week 09 2023

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

Sungrow offers PV, energy storage

solutions for South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa is rich in renewable energy private investments will flow into grid-con-
resources owing to its abundant sunshine, strong nected renewable energy generation, and more
winds and wave energy. However, Africa’s most utility-scale projects will be commissioned,”
advanced economy has been experiencing its Yang said in a statement. “The customers need
worst energy crisis in years, with President Cyril cutting-edge PV and energy storage solutions
Ramaphosa declaring a national “state of disas- for utility-scale markets to catalyse the shift to a
ter” over his country’s crippling power shortages. low-carbon future.”
Scheduled and unscheduled power outages, Sungrow offers a competitive product port-
or load-shedding, have been implemented by folio of PV inverters and ESS. In 2022, Sungrow
the national power utility Eskom every day in partnered with SOLA Group to supply Africa’s
2023. This is mainly because the majority of largest private IPP PV project of 256 megawatt
The customers South Africa’s electricity is supplied by a fleet peak (MWp) with its “1+X” modular inverters.
of ageing and poorly maintained coal-burning This project will power five facilities of Tronox,
need cutting-edge plants, according to Sungrow Southern Africa, a the world’s leading manufacturer of titanium

PV and energy Johannesburg-based renewable energy solution dioxide pigment, through the wheeling agree-
ments with Eskom.
provider.
Additionally, Sungrow provides ESS to solve
Sungrow Southern Africa was established in
storage solutions 2017 by Sungrow Power Supply, a leading global the intermittency and volatility of solar power.
for utility-scale inverter supplier for renewables. The Southern The liquid-cooled ESS PowerTitan tailored for
African branch of the Chinese company pro-
utility-scale ESS demand offers safety, profitabil-
markets to vides innovative photovoltaic (PV) and energy ity and flexibility when coupled with PV plants,
catalyse the shift storage systems (ESS) for utility-scale, commer- says Sungrow.
Many South African business are trying to
cial and industrial (C&I) and residential custom-
to a low-carbon ers in the region. cut their dependency on Eskom’s unreliable
“The energy structure dominated by coal power supply. Last year, Sungrow installed its
future. power lacks of resilience,” said Phyllis Yang, SG110CX commercial inverter solution at the
largest rooftop PV plant at Cornubia Mall in
director of Sungrow Southern Africa. “Renew-
able energy contributes to mitigating the energy South Africa, with a DC capacity of 5.25MWp.
crisis, meanwhile, enabling the country to tran- The project enables the shopping mall to reduce
Phyllis Yang sition to a clean, affordable and reliable energy its emissions and also cuts electricity costs, says
Sungrow Southern system in the long term.” the company.
Africa One of the government’s action steps to grad- To ensure a stable power supply all day long,
ually start energy transition includes the Risk Sungrow also provides the liquid-cooled ESS
Mitigation Independent Power Producer Pro- PowerStack with a battery capacity range of
curement Programme (RMIPPPP) launched 500kWh-4MWh, available for two- to four-
by the Department of Mineral Resources and hour C&I applications. The surplus energy
Energy (DMRE) in 2020. The initiative aims to generated during the day can be stored and
fill the current short-term supply gap. used when the sun is not at its fullest potential.
A combination of private and public sector According to Sungrow, a demand for a solar-
involvement is now needed, says Sungrow. To plus-storage solution for homes is on the rise,
encourage the private sector to participate in as families can use all of the energy they have
the renewable energy market, the government produced by the solar system, even during the
has opened market access for independent night. Sungrow offers a combination of hybrid
power producers (IPPs) to engage in the market inverters plus batteries for residential applica-
through power purchase agreements (PPAs). tions which can be monitored and managed via
South Africa’s government Renewable Sungrow’s iSolarCloud platform.
Energy Independent Power Producer Procure- “We expect a long-term sustainable, reliable
ment Programme (REIPPPP) was disrupted by and accessible energy supply in the near future.
seven years between 2014 and 2021 after the pre- Sungrow is well-prepared with a local team
vious Eskom leadership refused to sign PPAs for offering responsive and professional services to
projects procured in 2014. illuminate South Africa’s energy future,” con-
“Driven by the restart of REIPPPP, more cluded Yang.™

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