DPA solar projects stretches to 120MW

DISTRIBUTED Power Africa (DPA) Zimbabwe has a solar projects order book that stretches to 120MW in Zimbabwe alone with at least 30MW of those having already been installed or at an advanced stage of deployment, the company said in a statement.

DPA has been on an aggressive nationwide initiative to increase access to energy, through the installation of solar solutions for commercial and industrial businesses.

Its efforts were recently recognised for contributing to national energy security by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube in his 2020 National Budget Statement.

Among others, the Schweppes 1MW, the Surrey Meats 118kW and the Kefalos 600kW solar plants were mentioned by name, with ZESA having been said to be “minimising generation losses through interventions like switching to solar by corporates”.

Other sizeable customer projects constructed this year, include Total, Delta, UNESCO, Stanbic, Schweppes Beitbridge,

Luxaflor Rose Farm, St Gobain and others.

DPA recently announced their largest project to date, a 1,8MW plant under construction in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, which is scheduled to be completed by August.

DPA Zimbabwe CEO, Divyajeet Mahajan (pictured left) said solar energy has the capacity to increase the country's power supply and reduce dependency on energy imports from neighbouring countries, and as such DPA will be ramping up its deployment of commercial solar projects in support of improving energy delivery into the country.

“We appreciate Government's efforts in facilitating a legislative and regulatory framework that enables us to contribute in the power sector,” he said.

The company has demonstrated their commitment to support and engage local suppliers in Zimbabwe through an ongoing selective bidding process of engaging local vendors for technical support in their project installations.

“The 1MW Schweppes Willowvale project is one such example where over 60 skilled technicians were employed on the construction of the project in partnership with a local vendor.

“Our initiatives encourage growth throughout the country's supply chain, from manufacturers of solar system accessories, built structures, all the way to smart energy ICT technology,” added Mahajan.

DPA is a pan African energy company with operations in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, DRC and Kenya.

The company offers solar financing options over and above engineering, procurement, installation and maintenance.