There are endless expanses of red earth that separate small villages, popping up like oases at the borders of the Kalahari Desert, which means “the great thirst” in the Tswana language. Hotazel is a rural centre of not quite two thousand people, mostly employed in the large manganese mine there or on the farms of big landowners, where they work the land and herd goats and cattle. A few kilometres away, in this corner of the South African province of Northern Cape, we have built the Adams photovoltaic plant that, with its 82.5 MW, is already providing electricity to thousands of local households. Build with the local community The works came to an end far ahead of schedule, but they weren’t always easy. During the day, temperatures were up to 50 degrees Celsius, while the night was freezing. The best moment is around 6:00 in the evening, when the sun is about to dip below the horizon. The noises of the worksite stop, the workers go back to their homes, and a glance to the sky is enough to understand just how magical the spectacle of nature can be: “Surrounded by nothing but earth, in surreal silence, we would witness breath-taking sunsets. It was definitely the most beautiful moment of the day”, said the project manager, Daniele Ienco, who has been following the works at Adams for almost two years. "Enel Green Power officially opened the construction site in March 2015 and finished the works two months ahead of schedule." The dedication of the whole team and the support of the local community, employed at the solar farm and in other parallel activities, were essential: “As required by South African law, the people at the worksite mostly came from local communities. In this way, they can count on guaranteed work for a set period of time”. Each person was prepped and trained for the different activities at the worksite, in accordance with the highest standards of quality and safety, in line with our commitment to the social and economic development of the country. Furniture, lighting and drinking water “Over the last few months, hundreds of thousands of solar panels have been installed, 611,100 in total. Every one of these was delivered on wooden pallets”, Ienco explained. “These were then donated to the local community and transformed into furniture for schools, offices and other common spaces. We also donated a small photovoltaic system to a school that will partially cover the energy needs of the building”. In the wake of this first phase, numerous important initiatives are planned for the coming months. "We want to bring potable water through the Warka Water system, a structure able to use the humidity in the air and to collect rainwater, dew and fog." Daniele Ienco Furthermore, following our experience at the Nojoli plant, we will launch a project of stable access to electricity for the Adams park as well, together with Liter Of Light, a non-profit association that has used Solar Bottles (bottles made of plastic and recycled materials transformed into solar energy lamps, ed.) to bring zero-emission lighting to disadvantaged communities throughout the world”. Enel Green Power South Africa will also provide educational institutions and the Motheo TVET College with some solar mini-grids that will allow them to save on their energy bills and instead spend their money on the education of students, infrastructure and teaching materials.
