News & Insights

Soventix South Africa, a subsidiary of the global project developer Soventix GmbH, is pleased with the recent news that the IGW solar farm project in De Aar has received its Eskom Budget Quote with construction set to begin in QI 2024. Originally conceptualized by Soventix, the solar farm project was developed for submission to the Department of Mineral Resource and Energy's (DMRE) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

In July 2022 Soventix sold the rights to Phase I of the cluster development (consisting of 342 MW) to SolarAfrica, which will finalise Phase I to wheel power to multiple off-takers.

Soventix is co-developing Phases 2 and 3 of the projects which will reach an impressive total size of I GW. "SolarAfrica and Soventix have had a long-standing relationship and have worked together successfully on many projects previously. It made sense with the natural progression to larger projects, that this relationship continued to include the development in De Aar," says David McDonald, CEO of SolarAfrica.

Soventix is also spearheading the development of agrivoltaic testing during different phases of the project to gather data on the dual use of single-axis tracking technology PV plants together with sheep farming, which is the most common agricultural activity in the area. Soventix is optimistic that the results of the data analysis from this formal agrivoltaic study could support the establishment of further solar generation plants without compromising the vital need of agricultural production.

The project is pioneering the way forward in numerous ways, not least being one of the first projects of this size and nature to be connected to the Eskom 400 kV Transmission network. The scope and planning of this project will effectively pave the way for other developers and IPPs to grid-connect projects of similar size in the future.

“Soventix sees its work on this and other developments in South Africa as an integral part of the transformation of the energy sector to an integrated network of effective and efficient private power producers, who can assist the national grid operator in providing the energy required to grow the regional economy,” says Jean-Paul de Villiers, De Aar Solar Project Developer of Soventix.

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