The first solar powered airport has been opened in the Northern Cape and the techology is expected to spread across South Africa.

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said operations would spread all the way to India, Ghana and Sudan in the near future. Solar power is the use of the sun’s energy either directly as thermal energy (heat) or through the use of photovoltaic cells in solar panels and transparent photovoltaic glass to generate electricity.

Jabulani Khambule, a representative of Airports Company South African (Acsa) said they realised that energy costs were increasing and the shortage of supply was a big problem. He said Acsa had invested R13.5m on erecting solar panels.

It also built the Upington solar power for R12.6m. Now the short term objectives are to invest in technology that consumes less power.

“Nersa has approved an energy increase of 8% over the next two years. The increase led to a number of initiatives by Acsa. We have installed a number of runways and that project is lit by solar,” Khambule said.

He went on to say that the medium term goal was to ensure an energy secure environment and to introduce an energy mix into all airports. The solar power panel was built between October 2015 and April 2016. Peters said the solar panels are expected to last at least 25 to 30 years, which would prove sustainable for the company.

“We would like to say that we are going ahead with plans to develop the East London Airport and Bram Fischer International Airport in Bloemfontein, which are both in line to get solar panels. We will also keep the community informed about the developments,” Peters said.

She went on to thank Kimberley for being custodians of the project. “We have got major airports in South Africa which can compete with the rest of the world.”
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