First Floating PV System in South Africa
Marlenique Estate, a picturesque farm and wedding venue, installed a SolarEdge ground mount and SolarEdge floating PV to protect itself against rising energy costs and load shedding.
With solar and power costs fixed for a minimum of 25 years, a solar installation was a better investment than planting a new orchard
Carl Van der Merwe
/ Marlenique EstateSolarEdge was chosen for its long-term, future-proof solution, which optimizes energy from each module independently and eliminates power losses. Tracking real-time module performance provides reporting visibility, as well as pinpoint troubleshooting, and remote O&M. Using SolarEdge meant a cost-effective 30% fewer strings. Also, SolarEdge products are designed for challenging environments to support the floating PV system which minimizes land use while reducing water evaporation.
- First commercially operable floating PV system installed in South Africa
- Power Optimizers avoided power losses
- Monitoring Platform system oversees each individual panel for improved O&M
- Built-in SafeDC™, ensures automatic reduction of DC voltage to a touch-safe level if the inverter is turned off, protecting maintenance workers
- Power Optimizers are water and humidity resistant
- Diminished water evaporation from dam
- Reduced the number of strings from 5 to 3
- 135% oversizing
Anyone is welcome to try to take us to any solar plant better built than the one on Marlenique. I don’t think it is possible because this one is world-class standard.
Carl Van der Merwe
/ Marlenique Estate
