wiredinUSA November 2014

INDEX

Harnessing China

South Africa solar

Kenyan counties link

PV projects

Wire harness manufacturer Lorom has built its fourth wire harness plant in mainland China which is expected to be in full production before the end of 2014. Founder and CEO of Lorom, YT Yuan, said: “The investment in our first ever cable and cable system plant in the Beijing area demonstrates both our commitment to serving our Chinese customers even better with the latest technology locally made, and our confidence in Lorom’s prosperous future here in China.” The new Beijing-based Lorom plant will manufacture complex wire harness and cable assemblies for local automotive customers. Initial planned capacity is 250,000 wire harnesses per year.

Solar Capital De Aar 3, a joint venture between Italian thin-film module maker Moncada Energy Group Srl and Solar Capital Group, has energized its 85.26MW thin-film PV power plant in South Africa. A local Moncada subsidiary, Costruzioni Moncada South Africa (Pty) Ltd, built the power plant in De Aar, Northern Cape under a $232 million EPC contract. The plant relies on amorphous silicon modules produced by a Moncada subsidiary. Moncada and Solar Capital provided 25 percent of the project funding, with the remaining 75 percent supplied by South Africa’s Standard Bank. Construction on the project began in January 2013. Solar Capital De Aar 3 was among the preferred bidders in the second round of South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producer procurement program (REIPPPP), managed by the South African department of energy.

The Kenyan government has instigated the second phase of its national infrastructure project. Launched in 2009, the national optic fiber backbone infrastructure project (NOFBI) aims at connecting the entire country to high-speed broadband. The second phase was launched by ICT cabinet secretary, Fred Matiang’i, in Embu county. Matiang’i says the project will be completed by the end of 2015 and will see all 47 counties’ headquarters connected with high-speed Internet, enhancing communication between the two levels of governments and creating job opportunities. The project, which is being undertaken by China’s Huawei Technologies, is funded by the Chinese Exim Bank through a government to government agreement and to date has laid 4,300km of cable.

Xinyu Xinwei New Energy Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of SPI Solar, has an engineering, procurement and construction agreement for a 20MW PV project inWulaichabuCity, Inner Mongolia. The agreement with Inner Mongolia Jingzhaolai Energy Co Ltd marked SPI Solar’s first agreement for a PV project in the Inner Mongolia region. The project was scheduled to begin in October. Within just a few days, Xinyu Xinwei New Energy signed a similar agreement for a 30MW PV project in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia. The project with Alxa League ZhiWei PV Power Co Ltd is expected to be connected to the grid by the end of March 2015. “We are pleased to have announced yet another EPC project in the Inner Mongolia region as we continue to establish a presence there while rapidly penetrating the market for solar across China overall,” said Xiaofeng Peng, chairman of SPI. “We continue to see solid growth opportunities and are excited by our success thus far in this important market for SPI Solar.”

ASIA / AFRICA NEWS

wiredInUSA - November 2014

wiredInUSA - November 2014

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