South African solar module manufacturer ARTsolar has entered into a partnership with China's Talesun Solar which will see the African company upgrading its 300 MW annual manufacturing facility to a new state-of-the-art 325 MW per year solar PV panel assembly facility.
The 2 companies will produce high efficiency large format solar PV modules in South Africa to meet the requirements of the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement (RMIPPP) program and also beyond that.
"The long gestation period of the RMIPPP programme has provided ARTsolar time to upgrade to a new, state-of-the-art, 325MW per year, solar PV panel assembly facility in partnership with Talesun," stated the management. Company's Chairman Eshu Seevnarayan said the company anticipates to install a 2nd 500 MW capacity line in the near future.
ARTsolar expects the new assembly facilities to add 160 permanent jobs to their existing workforce.
For Talesun, the partnership supports its expansion within South Africa to 'meet their needs for locally produced high efficiency PV offerings'. The company's President Shuguang Dong said, "The company plans to continue deepening the partnership with our South African peer in the areas of manufacturing and sales of as well as technologies for PV modules, with the aim of boosting employment in the local community and speeding up technological transformation at the local level."
Through the RMIPPP, South Africa targets to alleviate the electricity supply constraints and reduce the extensive utilization of diesel based peaking electricity generators in the medium to long term and renewable energy is a big part of that plan.