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Mechanical Technology — April 2015
⎪
Innovative engineering
⎪
M
AN Truck & Bus South
Africa has officially an-
nounced 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.
According to Heiko Kayser, head of
production at the assembly plant, “instal-
lation 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% by 2020.”
The MAN Climate Strategy vision
commit the organisation to:
‘reduce CO
2
emissions at MAN sites by improving
energy efficiency, using renewable en-
ergy sources (solar, wind, geothermal),
generating energy using combined heat
and power (CHP) plants, and through
integrated energy-management technol-
ogy and organization.’
Geoff du Plessis, managing director
of MAN Truck & Bus in South Africa,
confirms that this investment is not
only a significant step in terms of our
environmental commitment, but it also
shows our long-term commitment to the
region and its 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
efficiently accommodate the solar panels,
At a launch event held at MAN Truck & Bus South Africa’s assembly plant
in Durban on March 17, 2015, the company announced the conversion of
its Pinetown assembly plant to solar power. “One of the biggest challenges
facing the economy right now is the reliable supply of energy by Eskom and
it is great to see that some 53 years after MAN started in South Africa, we
have made this significant step towards attaining a degree of self-reliance in
terms of energy supply,” says managing director, Geoff du Plessis.
Above:
Landmark events for 2014, according
to Du Plessis included “the handover of 215
TGS units to Barloworld and 60 TGS units to
Imperial Cargo”.
Left:
MAN’s Pinetown plant
has 6 300 m
2
of PV panels installed on its
roofing for a 580 kW system capable of
generating approximately 810 000 kWh of
power per annum – surplus to current plant
consumption.
MAN SA’s carbon-neutral
Pinetown assembly plant
but also to install skylights and thermal
insulation material to reduce demand for
electric lighting and to make our buildings
cooler for our operators,” explains Kayser.
Of the 10 000 m
2
of roofing cover-
ing all the buildings at MAN’s Pinetown
plant, 6 300 m
2
have been utilised to
accommodate the PV installation. The
580 kW system is capable of generating
approximately 810 000 kWh of power
per annum, providing a surplus of energy
that can be supplied to the metropolitan
(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 equip-
ment from China. The PV system is cur-
rently 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 dai-
ly power consumption as well as electric-
ity costs and CO
2
savings. Furthermore,
the online reporting software also delivers
exception reports, enabling Solaray,
located just two kilometres away from