Times Of Swaziland: SWSC TO INVEST E176M IN SOLAR PLANT

SWSC TO INVEST E176M IN SOLAR PLANT
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 BY KWANELE DHLADHLA  on 13/03/2018 00:32:00


MBABANE – SWSC’s efforts to manage the burden of cost on consumers for water
and wastewater services through generation solar power will cost up to E176
million (US$16 million).
The solar power plant has been earmarked to be located at the Matsapha
Industrial Site, adjacent the new SWSC Waste Water Treatment on the basis of its
good average solar radiation.
In the 2017 Swaziland Water Services Corporation (SWSC) annual report, it has
been disclosed that the solar energy plant, to help ensure sustainability of the
corporation, will include the installation of PV modules, junction boxes, grid
tied inverters, isolation transformers, meters, control panel and 11 kV
switchgear for evacuation.
It was mentioned that the appropriate civil foundations for the modular mounting
structures, pre-fabricated structures, transformers, switchyard equipment and
feeder pay would be put in place.
“Storm water drainage will be provided for the entire plant. A complete SCADA
and SCADA server having string level monitoring capabilities over the remote
server will be installed. The plant will also have the necessary internet
connection through a GPRS enabled modem along with Local Area Network (LAN)
connectivity for data communication over remote server,” SWSC explained.
It should, however, be mentioned that SWSC pointed out that options of rolling
out the project were yet to be investigated to determine the most effective
approach.
Explaining the background about the project, the corporation said energy was one
of the major cost drivers in the operations of the corporation representing more
than 15 per cent of total expenditure. It was stated that the corporation
consumed on an annual basis about 30 000 MWh.