News Flash
- Reuters reports that German industrial group Rheinmetall plans to build solar PV panel manufacturing plant in South African with an initial capacity of 500MW
Rheinmetall’s facility will have initial annual capacity to produce panels with total generating capacity of at least 500 megawatts, said Jens-Patrick Helmsen, CEO of the company’s South African unit Rheinmetall Denel Munitions (RDM).
“The reason we are doing this is to have independent local production. Energy is a strategic asset for national security,” he told Reuters on the side-lines of a German-African business conference in Johannesburg.
He said it was too early to state Rheinmetall’s total investment in the project, but the company hoped to launch production of panels within the next year.
Helmsen said Rheinmetall would initially focus on producing PV panels for industrial clients in South Africa before a possible expansion to residential customers and exports to the southern African regional market.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
