CONSERVING WATER ONE PANEL AT A TIME

March 2023, De Aar Solar Power.

De Aar Solar Power joins the country in celebrating ‘World Water Day’ this month as it takes a lead in conserving this scarce resource. Having pioneered and implemented ambitious water saving techniques, this solar plant is proud to have served as an example to other renewable energy projects across the Northern Cape Province, the Free State and as far as Limpopo who have followed suit.

A study that was piloted at the solar plant to ascertain the impact of doing away with solar PV panel washing, successfully tested the resulting effect on its power production, yielding positive results, making a case for other solar projects to do the same.

“Our team has implemented number of interventions to minimise the impact of our power production on the surrounding biodiversity and environment, and since discovered that rainfall is sufficient to keep our panels clean.  Hence, we have been able to forgo the use of municipal water to wash the panels, resulting in a massive annual water savings of approximately 1.5 million litres,” said Sulana De Jager, Site Manager for De Aar Solar Power.

Spearheaded by the United Nations, alongside UNESCO, the World Water Council and the WWF, World Water Day aims to underline the importance of this valuable resource.