Construction World May 2015

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD MAY 2015
PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS
According to Heiko Kayser, head
of production at the assembly
plant, “installation of the solar, or
photovoltaic system, commenced
in August 2014 and was completed in less
than six months. The project forms part of
MAN’s global Climate Strategy to reduce
carbon emissions at its production sites in
Europe, Africa, Asia and South America by
25 percent by 2020.”
According to the MAN Climate Strategy
vision, the organisation, “will reduce CO2
emissions at MAN sites by improving energy
efficiency, using renewable energy sources
(solar, wind, geothermal), generating energy
using combined heat and power (CHP)
plants, and through integrated energy-man-
agement technology and organisation.”
Geoff du Plessis, managing director of
MAN Truck & Bus in South Africa, confirms
that this investment is not only a signifi-
cant step in terms of MAN’s environmental
commitment, but it also shows its long term
commitment to the region and it’s future.
“Our products and services are all aimed
to minimise their carbon footprint, and it is
great to see that even our assembly plant
contributes in this regard” says Du Plessis.
With its abundant sunshine, Pinetown is
a prime location to implement solar energy
solutions and Kayser and his team procured
expertise from KwaZulu-Natal to design and
install the new photovoltaic (PV) system.
“Prior to rolling out the PV project, we
refurbished our entire roofing system at
a cost of over R5-million to not only effi-
ciently accommodate the solar panels, but
also to install skylights and thermal insula-
tion material to reduce demand for electric
lighting and to make our buildings cooler for
our operators,” explains Kayser.
Of the 10 000 square-metres of roofing
covering all buildings at MAN’s Pinetown
plant, 6 300 square-metres have been
utilised to accommodate the PV installation.
The 580 kW system is capable of generating
approximately 810 000 kilowatt hours (kWh)
of power per annum, providing a surplus of
energy that can be supplied to the metropol-
itan (eThekwini) grid.
Alan Swart, managing director of
Solaray, the company responsible for
designing the R10-million PV system for
MAN Pinetown says, “We sourced state-of-
the-art equipment including inverters and
solar panels from Europe which are able to
generate power even in cloudy conditions,
as well as mounting equipment from China.
“The PV system is currently grid-tied
but is capable of becoming either semi-
grid-tied or a completely off-grid system
with the inclusion of a genset or battery
system respectively.”
The PV system is linked to a web-based
monitoring system that reports daily power
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CONSTRUCTION WORLD MAY 2015
assembly plant
FIRST
CARBON-NEUTRAL
MAN Truck & Bus South Africa has officially announced the
conversion of its Pinetown assembly plant to solar power.
The complete truck and bus-chassis assembly plant is now
capable of operating entirely off solar energy and is not only
the first 100% carbon-neutral truck production site in
Africa but also within MAN’s global production network.
“Our products and services are all aimed to minimise
their carbon footprint, and it is great to see that even our
assembly plant contributes in this regard.”
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