MBABANE – The Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) has, in the past two weeks, achieved commercial operation on the Lavumisa 10 MW solar PV plant.
The plant is located in Qomintaba, about 40km from the town of Lavumisa and connects to the Maloma 66/11 Kv substation which was upgraded as part of the project.
In fact, the plant utilizes state-of-the-art technology to generate clean renewable energy thus reducing the country’s reliance on imported electricity.
Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, Acting EEC Managing Director Enerst Mkhonta said the plant is fully owned by the EEC and was constructed by the South African contractor Consolidated Power Projects Energy Solutions (CONCO) who employed mostly Eswatini subcontractors and labour.
In his project highlights, Mkhonta explained that it is the first utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant in the Kingdom of Eswatini occupying around 35 hectares. He said the installed capacity of the plant is 13.6 MW compromising over 37 800 solar panels and 100 string inverters.
He mentioned that the plant utilizes state-of-art panels that are of a bifacial type which means that it generates electricity from both the top and bottom surfaces of the panels, thus increasing the efficiency of the plant.
He further stated that the design included battery storage to allow EEC to store electricity during the times when the electricity price is high, resulting in significant costs savings.
He said the expected annual energy generation is sufficient to supply over 5 000 average Emaswati households with clean green electricity.
“The power plant will displace electricity imports from neighbouring countries thus reducing the cost of imports from coal-based generation sources such as Eskom,” he said.
He said the project was designed and constructed to a high standard (with a design life of 30 years) and was delivered within the budget despite the challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cyclone Elouise, international shipping delays, civil unrest, and associated challenges.
“The Lavumisa solar PV has undergone stringent acceptance tests and its performance was found to be comparable to other well-built solar PV installations throughout the world with a performance ratio above 80 percent,” he said.
About the Plant
Bifacial modules are the latest trend in the solar PV industry as they can generate electricity on both sides of the module. This is done by capturing the direct sunlight striking the top face and absorbing the sunlight that is reflected from the ground on the bottom face of the panel gets converted into electrical energy. The Bifacial modules were supplied by Canadian Solar, a reputable PV panel manufacturer that is one of only six companies compromising the Silicon Module Super League (SMSL). A total of 37, 968 bifacial modules are mounted on 452 single-axis tracking tables, which track the movement of the sun throughout the day to further maximize the energy captured from the sun. Each tracker is fitted with its own motor, a decision that was taken to limit excessive generation losses in the event of tracker failures.
String inverters were preferred as each inverter failure only contributes 1% to the plant outage as opposed to the central inverters which tend to affect in the order of 10-25% of the plant output in the event of failure.
All the power generated on-site is evacuated via the 66/22 kV Lavumisa substation which connects the power plant to the existing 66/11 kV Maloma substation via a dedicated 14 km 66 Kv transmission line. Work to incorporate the first utility-scale BESS into the Lavumisa solar PV plant is at an advanced stage and it is anticipated to be commissioned in Q4 of 2021. The 1 MWp 1MWh BESS will store cheaply price electricity from the grid or the Lavumisa PV plant and will be discharged during peak times in the evening and morning when the electricity price is high. This will further assist the EEC to reduce its import costs from alternatives power sources from the neighbouring countries.
GRID UPGRADES AT THE MALOMA SUBSTATION
MBABANE – To ensure the power generated by the Lavumisa Solar PV plant could be safely evacuated to the EEC grid, the existing 66/11 Kv substation required to be upgraded.
According to EEC Acting MD Enerst Mkhonta, the upgrade works at Maloma included the construction of a new 66 Kv busbar, converting the existing transformer bay into a line feeder bay to connect new 66Kv transmission line from Lavumisa.
He said the upgrade works have also increased the reliability of supply to the coal mine and local residential customers connected to the substation.
“The EEC conducted a competitive tendering process to select EPC contractors that will design, engineer, procure, construct, commission, and test all works associated with the solar PV plant and BESS. The tender process was conducted in two stages where the first stage was the request for qualification process where fourteen (14) applications were received. However, only five (5) applicants were shortlisted and invited to submit bids in response to the request for proposal which was the second stage of the tender process. After the request for the proposal stage, Consolidated Power Projects Energy Solutions (CONCO) were found to be suitably qualified to meet the EEC’s requirement at the lowest overall cost and were therefore selected as the preferred EPC contractor for the project. The EEC and Energy System Planning (Pty) Ltd (ESP), its Transaction Advisor AND Owner’s Engineer on the Project, were able to negotiate the submitted bid price down by approximately E44 Million. This competitive price will benefit EEC customers through reduced energy tariffs,” he said.
Challenges faced
Speaking on challenges, Mkhonta stated that the road to achieving Commercial Operation was not without hurdles.
He said EEC had to improvise to deal with the tough economic climate affecting contractors large and small throughout the region.
“Within six (6) months of signing the EPC contract, the procurement of solar PV equipment was affected by national lockdowns in other parts of the world as well as the full and partial lockdown measures announcement by the governments of South African and Eswatini in March 2020 to control the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
He explained that other project activities were affected after Tropical cyclone Eloise swept through parts of the country in January 2020 and then the local measures announced by government in March 2012 to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Most recently, the civil unrest in the country impacted the progress of the implementation of project works. Until recently, the procurement of the BESS equipment was also delayed due to an international shipping crisis that is affecting the global supply chains,” he said.
The MD explained that despite all the challenges encountered, EEC worked closely with CONCO to ensure that the project is delivered successfully and within budget.
EEC TO EMPOWER THE NATION
MBABANE – EEC is committed to empower the nation and help combat the socio-economic issues facing the country which includes high unemployment, Acting MD Enerst Mkhonta has said.
“To this end, EEC communicated its local participation requirements in the tender documents and as result CONCO partnered with Inyatsi Construction Group Holdings, a highly respected civil contractor in Eswatini for the civil works at the PV plant and the substations,” he said.
Furthermore, of the 200 people that were employed during the design and construction phase, 133 were Emaswati with 150 local laborers, 10 semi-skilled, and three skilled personnel.
“EEC anticipates creating additional job opportunities for Swazi citizens as the project moves into the operation and maintenance phase. This includes controlling the vegetation in the project site, cleaning of the modules, and providing security services,” he said.
On another note, Mkhonta has stated that EEC’s goal is to promote the inclusion of female employees in leadership positions within the energy industry. He said the company prides itself in having 66 percent of the team managing the execution of the Project being women whilst a further 50 percent comprised the project team.
“We believe the completion of the Lavumisa project is a landmark event on many fronts for the kingdom of Eswatini and represents a new frontier for large-scale renewable power plants coupled with energy storage systems. This one-of-kind installation is the cornerstone upon which the EEC will expand its generation capacity to produce sustainable green energy to achieve self-reliance for the benefits of the citizens of the country.”
