by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG – HUAWEI believes its projects on the continent point to the possibility of a green and bright future for Africa in the near times ahead.
Huawei Director for Digital Power Sub-Saharan Africa and Smart PV Development Department, David Bian
David Bian, Director of Huawei Digital Power Sub-Saharan Africa, Smart PV Development Department, said this while delivering a keynote speech at the Solar and Storage Live exhibition, in Johannesburg.
The three-day event began on Monday.
Bian’s keynote was entitled “Build a new power system and jointly build a green and bright future for Africa.”
He said the work Huawei had done locally and elsewhere showed “what will be possible for Africa in the near future.”
In utilities, Huawei helped build the largest solar plant in Africa, a 540 MW installation in South Africa’s Northern Cape.
Huawei supplied the inverters and transformers.
“Our 2 000 inverters were able to extrude with great efficiency and ensure that the plant achieved full stability in just three months,” Bian said.
He further pointed to an energy storage project for a solar-hydro hybrid energy storage system (ESS) in Ghana, which has helped the West African country cut greenhouse gas emissions by 47 000 tons annually.
Huawei has also built a microgrid at a major Cape Town-based fresh produce market to ensure that it has continuous power.
This has saved them around US$81 000 per year in fuel costs, with the return on investment is more than three years.
Bian said the work Huawei had done elsewhere also shows what will be possible for Africa in the near future.
In China’s Qinghai Province, for example, Huawei helped China National Power Investment Group build the world’s largest photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 2.2 GW, which can produce more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours of green electricity every year.
Huawei Digital Power focuses on security, quality, service, and technology. It uses leading technologies to ensure system security, provide high-quality products and services, and continuously innovate to lead the industry.
Bian said their solutions had generated 997 billion kilowatts of green power, saved 46 billion kilowatts of energy and reduced emissions by 495 million tons, equivalent to planting 680 million trees.
“So, today, while we have a great responsibility on our shoulders, let’s work together to build a new power system for a better, greener Africa,” he concluded.
– CAJ News
