Heineken’s Sedibeng Midvaal brewery solar power plant in South Africa has been launched. This comes after approximately seven months of construction and four months of test operations.
Heineken‘s Build a Better World initiative resulted in the construction of the 6.5 MW solar power plant that comprises a total of 14,000 PV panels. Additionally, the facility features single-axis tracking technology. This technology enables the panels to face the sun the entire day and generate the most energy as a result.
The plant’s featured weather station will be able to detect storms. This as a result will enable the tracking system to move the panels into a protective stow position to protect them from wind and hail.
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More on the features of Heineken’s Sedibeng Midvaal brewery solar power plant
Furthermore, WiFi is enabled and used to control Heineken’s Sedibeng Midvaal brewery solar power plant. Real-time monitoring and control are possible owing to this connection to a supervisory control and data acquisition control system. This also makes it easy to remotely fix any faults or issues that the system might detect.
If a fault cannot be fixed remotely, technicians will visit the site to fix it. The plant is an embedded grid-connected generation project. When the grid goes down, the electricity supply automatically shuts down.
The facility was built in partnership with SOLA Group, a leader in renewable energy solutions. Over a period of 15 years, SOLA Group will own and maintain the Heineken solar power plant.
Expectations for the facility
The 19-ha Heineken’s Sedibeng Midvaal brewery solar power plant is expected to generate 17,000 MWh annually for a period of 25 years at the least. The electricity will be used to cover about 30 percent of the brewery’s energy requirements.
Richard Kriel said that the company was looking at further renewable energy options to meet the remaining 70% of the brewery’s energy requirements. Kriel is the manager of engineering strategic projects and sustainability for Heineken South Africa.
