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.
