Iberdrola lands a contract for the construction of a 96-MW photovoltaic plant in South Africa for $150 million

The consortium formed by IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA and the South African company GROUP FIVE has been selected by Jasper Power Company for the construction of a 96-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic plant in South Africa.

The contract, which was signed today in Johannesburg, is worth around 150 million dollars and includes the engineering, equipment supply, civil engineering work, assembly and start-up of this renewable energy facility.

In addition, under the terms of the agreement the consortium will be in charge of developing the transformer substation that will feed the plant’s energy and a 132-kilovolt (KV) overhead power line that will connect the infrastructure to the national grid. Lastly, both companies will also be responsible for the plant’s operation and maintenance for the next 15 years.

The photovoltaic plant, which will be named Jasper PV, is part of a project led by the American company Solar Reserve. It will be located near the city of Postmasburg, in the Northern Cape province, and will have over 325,000 polycrystalline modules spread across some 180 hectares.

This project is also part of Round 2 of the Renewable IPP Programme of South Africa’s Energy Department, which has assigned the construction of eight photovoltaic plants and seven wind farms.

The Renewable Energy IPP Programme is an ambitious project that will launch a bidding process for a total capacity of 3,725 MW through five rounds. The South African government recently announced its intention to launch a new renewable energy programme once the current one has been completed, in order to add another 3,200 MW of clean generation to the grid before 2020. Because of these targets, South Africa has become one of the countries with the greatest potential in the renewable energy sector.