Capital Equipment News April 2015

MAN LAUNCHES ITS FIRST carbon-neutral assembly plant

M AN Truck & Bus South Africa has officially announced the conver- sion 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 percent carbon-neutral truck production site in Africa but also within MAN’s global production network. According to Heiko Kayser, Head of Pro- duction at the assembly plant, “installa- tion 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 CO 2 emissions at MAN sites by improving en- ergy efficiency, using renewable energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal), gen- erating energy using combined heat and power (CHP) plants, and through integrated energy-management technology and orga- nization.”

Alan Swart, Managing Director of Solaray, the company responsible for designing the R10m PV system for MAN Pinetown says, “We sourced, from Europe, state- of-the-art equipment including inverters and solar panels that 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 com- pletely 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 pow- er consumption as well as electricity-cost and CO 2 savings. Furthermore, the online reporting software also delivers exception reports, enabling Solaray (located just two kilometres away from MAN Pinetown) to rectify PV system issues swiftly. Solaray is also contracted to clean the solar panels every three months to ensure optimum ef- ficiency. “With occupational safety being a primary consideration for MAN, contracting an expe- rienced PV system installation company was essential. We were fortunate that Solaray contracted the services of Renen Renew- able Energy Solutions (Renen) for the in- stallation - their efficiency allowed us to

that this investment is not only a significant step in terms of our environmental com- mitment, but it also shows our 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 re- furbished our entire roofing system at a cost of over R5 m to not only efficiently accommodate the solar panels, but also to install skylights and thermal insulation ma- terial 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 covering all buildings at MAN’s Pinetown plant, 6 300 m 2 have been utilized 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 metro- politan (eThekwini) grid.

Geoff du Plessis, Managing Director of MAN Truck & Bus in South Africa, confirms

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