SA in top 10 of solar power nations

A report on the Out-Law.com site notes SA has moved into the top 10 rankings of countries harnessing renewable energy from the sun, having connected more than half-a-gigawatt of utility-scale solar power to the national grid, according to a new survey. The report says figures released by Wiki-Solar, a leading authority on the deployment of utility-scale photovoltaic power stations of 5 to 10 megawatts (MW) and above, said SA now has 15 solar plants connected to the grid as of last month. According to Wiki-Solar, the other nine countries on the list with utility-scale power plants were the US, China, Germany, India, Spain, the UK, Italy, Canada and France. Wiki-Solar defines ‘utility-scale solar’ as 4 MW and above, the report notes. It says four large-scale solar plants have come online in SA in recent weeks. Figures released by the SA Government earlier this year said the country’s renewable energy programme had already attracted more than R150bn in foreign direct investment., the report states.

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