The solar PV industry association SAPVIA has welcomed the commemoration event held on 18 April in the Northern Cape, at which stakeholders celebrated the Kenhardt Scatec site becoming operational and generating electricity into the grid. The event saw a keynote address from the Minister for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
SAPVIA CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu described this as a momentous day for the South African solar PV industry as well as for the entire electricity sector. “We really couldn’t be more proud of this Scatec project which was the world’s largest hybrid solar and battery storage facility. We send our hearty congratulations to our member Scatec but let us also congratulate some of our members who have been instrumental to this project such as Standard Bank, Canadian Solar, and Huawei.”
SAPVIA also wishes to acknowledge the immense contribution of government across three spheres but in particular the Mineral Resources and Energy Department and its IPPO.
“We believe that this project is a true testament that solar PV as a technology can contribute to energy security, can contribute to environmental sustainability, and to the economic revival especially of marginalised communities whilst being really one of the quickest technologies to deploy.”