Zimbabwe switches on solar-powered toll gates

Zimbabwe has powered up 22 toll gates with solar energy. This solar power initiative falls within the country’s plan to upgrade its road transport services as part of an overall infrastructure improvement plan. “A SolarWorld Africa distributor was granted the contract in 2013 to install 750kWp of solar power at 22 new toll gates in this electricitystrapped country, which has one of the highest road densities in Africa,” says Gregor Küpper, managing director of SolarWorld Africa. The rooftop installation at each toll gate is powered by the combination of a solar panel, battery backup and back-up generator. “Each site takes seven days to install. They are monitored with monitoring technology via the GSM network and are recorded as the first solar-powered toll gates in the world,” says Küpper. Zimbabwe takes is domestic electricity generation from coal, hydropower and thermal power plants which supply approximately 1.2GW of electricity to the country which requires 2.2GW per year. Over the past decade Zimbabwe has seen drastic load shedding which on some days has meant outages of up to 10 hours. “We believe that the use of solar power systems could help alleviate the instability that has affected people’s quality of life, business and industrial development. An efficient and viable power sector will assist economic stability and growth, given its linkages with the rest of the economy and within the SADC community – which will have a direct bearing on national income,” he says. CAPTION Solar-powered toll gates … helping to alleviate the instability in this electricity-strapped country.