Namibia’s first and largest utility-scale ground mounted photovoltaic (PV) system in Omburu
CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions officially broke ground and began its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting activities for Namibia’s largest photovoltaic (PV) power plant on September 18th, 2014.
The PV project is located in Omburu, two hours northwest of Windhoek. When completed, the five-megawatt (4.5MW) grid-connected renewable energy power plant, installed on 16 hectares of arid land, will be Namibia’s first and largest utility-scale ground mounted photovoltaic (PV) system.
InnoVent, the French wind developer operating locally in Namibia as InnoSun, selected CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions to manage and execute EPC services and to provide the construction risk-wrap for the 4.5MW solar PV project.
CRONIMET has established a local Namibian base EPC contracting and energy development services company, CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions Namibia (Pty) Ltd, to employ and transfer skills locally. CRONIMET is responsible for engineering, technical planning, PV plant layout, electrical single-line diagrams, construction and PV component parts integration and will oversee the connection of the power plant to NamPower’s grid. CRONIMET will also employ local staff operate and maintain the 4.5MW plant for up to 20-years.
InnoSun chose CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, selenium) thin-film panels for the electricity generation, which will be mounted to a horizontal tracking system. Tracking the sun as it rises and sets optimizes the angle of the panels in relationship to the position of the sun at any given time during the day allowing the PV panel to increase its energy output by as much as 25% when compared to fixed-tilt systems in Namibia.
The 5MW Omburu PV plant will generate a total of 11,025 kW hours of clean and reliable electricity per year that will feed into NamPower’s national grid system and replace over 8500 tons of CO2 per year.
Daniel Ambros, Technical Manager of CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions, “The guys at InnoSun really pushed the limit with their exciting demands to apply the most contemporary PV plant and equipment available on the market for this project. The project has allowed and challenged our engineers to optimize across some exciting new products”.
About CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions
CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions is the global leader in developing, engineering, financing, implementing and operating PV/Diesel Hybrid power plants for IPPs and for mining and industrial companies located in rural and remote areas with little or no access to reliable grid energy. CRONIMET is active throughout Africa developing renewable energy projects. CRONIMET Mining Power Solutions is a subsidiary of CRONIMET Mining AG, a fully integrated mining, trading and processing company. Visit our company at www.crm-ps.com and www.cronimet-mining.com
About InnoSun
InnoSun is a PV development subsidiary of InnoVent, a large and established French wind IPP. InnoSun together with InnoVent is developing PV and Wind projects across Africa. The company not only strives to reduce harmful emission by producing renewable energy, it stresses the importance and responsibility of applying innovative plant and equipment to projects that themselves abate CO2 during the manufacturing process. Visit InnoSun’s website at www.innovent.fr.