Power and automation technology group ABB on Thursday said it planned to establish a new central inverter production line at its Johannesburg facilities in 2014.
The group, which aimed to supply the growing photovoltaic (PV) market and take advantage of local content requirements in South Africa, would establish the new line, with a capacity of 500 MW/y, for its PVS800 range, producing 630 kW, 875 kW and 1 000 kW central inverters.
ABB’s current central inverter series – rated from 100 kW to 1 000 kW – was designed for multimegawatt PV power plants and, over the past ten years, global sales of more than 100 GW had been achieved.
“The region’s energy needs are set to grow through economic expansion and, with South Africa looking to benefit from its abundance of sunshine, we will be in an even better position to serve our customers,” said ABB head of discrete automation and motion division Ulrich Spiesshofer.
The group pointed out that it had completed the installation of its first two 500 kW PV solar projects, near Johannesburg, in 2011. It had since gained a delivery pipeline of about 90 MW of central inverters.
ABB already manufactured solar inverters in Estonia, India and China.