Clean energy for Africa by Africans makes appearance in South Sudan

Ugandan-based Aptech Africa, a solar energy and water solution specialists, recently successfully designed, built and installed the first off-grid solar-battery hybrid power system in South Sudan.

This USAID funded project, developed by AECOM International, incorporated a one-of-a-kind containerised PV storage solution by South African-based Sustainable Power Generation (SustainPower).

In record time, Aptech Africa planned, installed and commissioned the 79kWp ground mounted solar power system, which feeds a SustainPower 125kWh lithium-ion storage system, SustainSolar.

From their office in Cape Town, SustainPower built and delivered its pre-installed, temperature controlled, rugged SustainSolar 20-foot container, equipped with SMA solar and battery inverters and BYD batteries.

This turn-key solution helped to reduce the installation time on site and ensures a safe and tamper-proof operation of this world-class energy management and storage system.

Power to popular radio station

In South Sudan’s capital city, Juba, a leading radio station, Eye Radio, is no longer dependent on its old diesel generators. Read more: Regional motivation to develop South Sudan’s hydro power capacity^[1]

This is thanks to the new solar powered battery system, with engineering support from AECOM International Development, being the radio station’s primary power supply. The diesel generators are now only being used as backup.

Renewable energy that pays for itself

With the significantly reduced running time of the diesel gensets, the fuel savings alone will lead to a speedy payback of the hybrid-storage system. This also serves as proof of concept that solar and battery systems not only offer a sustainable renewable energy solution, but also make financial sense for most diesel powered off-grid operations that are so frequently found across Africa, and elsewhere.

Furthermore, Aptech Africa - with representations in seven African countries – and SustainSolar will foster this new partnership. Discussions are already underway regarding additional sustainable energy projects into Africa.

References

1. ^{^} Read more: Regional motivation to develop South Sudan’s hydro power capacity (www.esi-africa.com)