March 2023.
The sustainable management of freshwater resources lies at the heart of World Water Day, resonating with Soutpan Solar Power’s local school’s water infrastructure programme and water saving measures.
In rural villages located in the Blouberg Municipal District of the Limpopo Province, communities need assistance with access to safe drinking water. This is why the solar plant has introduced improved water infrastructure at Early Childhood Development centres, helping to ensure that young children and staff have access to clean and tested water.
Schools like Thusanang Crèche and Pre-School, no longer need to buy water for drinking or hygiene, and have also been able to propagate their own vegetables, which has numerous advantages for the community.
Furthermore, Soutpan Solar Power has implemented water saving efforts undertaken on site, which has resulted in saving 5 000 litres of water each day. This has been achieved by ceasing to wash its solar panels, relying solely on the area’s plentiful rainfall to wash the panels.
“A pilot study at one of our sister solar PV plants, in the Northern Cape showed that the washing of panels is in fact not necessary, hence we are now about to save many thousands of litres of water whilst matching power production results,” explained Marli Schoeman, ESG & Biodiversity Manager for Soutpan Solar Power.
World Water Day takes place every year on 22 March in South Africa and across the globe, with the aim to highlight ways in which citizens can conserve water, considering the global lack of clean water, damaging effects of global warming, water pollution and damaged water tables.
