PV installation going up at wastewater works

GEORGE NEWS - George Mayor Leon van Wyk and Portfolio Councillor for Electrotechnical Services and Fleet Management Nosicelo Mbete visited the Outeniqua Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) in Pacaltsdorp last week to see the start of the erection of a 400-kilowatt peak (kWp) PV installation.

"We are happy to witness the commencement of the construction works for the installation of our 400kWp solar PV plant that will, once erected in the next couple of months, be able to power most of the wastewater treatment works electrical loads during the daytime," said Van Wyk.

"It is essential that we make use of renewable energy, along with a battery pack, which will be added in due course so that we can have the power to operate our sewerage works always.

The system, according to the Director of Electrotechnical Services, Bongani Mandla, will comprise 736 panels, with each panel rated at 545W. "Then we have the inverters that convert the DC power from the panels into AC electricity that's required by the loads," Mandla said.

"We have a total of eight inverters, with each inverter rated at 50kW. The system will be grid-tied with no storage. However, it will allow for integration of battery storage to be installed in the next financial year. The power generated will be fed into the facility's main low-voltage distribution board where the loads (pumps and motors) required to operate the wastewater facility are connected."

The expected annual energy yield is 678 680kWh, and at a rate of R1,6 per kWh, the cost of the annual energy generated is R1 085 888. The calculated payback period of the system is seven years. The lifespan of PV systems is 25 years. The system's total cost, including a 24-month operation and maintenance period and training of four municipal staff, is R7,8m (inclusive of Vat).

In addition, the PV system will have a weather monitoring station equipped with a bunch of sensors to measure parameters such as the irradiance, wind speed and wind direction, humidity, ambient temperature and PV panels' temperature.

This data, including the PV production data, will be sent to a cloud, and then pulled off from there and displayed on the Scada system for remote monitoring in near real time.

In terms of environmental sustainability, the carbon emissions that will be avoided using energy generated from a clean and renewable source is 12 809 tons over 25 years. The installation will occupy an area of approximately 4 800 square metres.

The structure started going up quickly.