Solar Energy Projects Is Now Established In Pomona

Text: Michael Nott; Photos: Structure and Design

Solar Energy Projects (SEP) opened their new warehouse in May last year at stand 522, in the rapidly developing Pomona Industrial Park along Harare Drive. The new premises include the huge warehouse space of 1000 sq. m, sales additional 500 sq. m. There’s also a manufacturing section as well as facilities for ongoing research and development.

The custom built warehouse, of approximately 1,500 sq. m, was designed by SEP to accommodate their requirements. It was mostly fabricated by local construction company Agristructures. The shell of the building is fairly conventional – there’s a polished concrete floor slab, a glass curtain wall in front with a balcony leading off of the sales with multiple translucent skylights punched through. The walls of the structure are solid brick for the lower section with Chromadek cladding on a steel skeleton above. Large roller shutter doors on both the east and west sides allow for convenient deliveries and despatch. Solar panels, batteries and the related equipment are fairly bulky. While Agristructures provided the shell of the building most of the interior finishes were manufactured and installed by SEP. At the reception, SEP have created a whimsical and quirky welcoming desk made from an old decommissioned 300Kw hydro-electric turbine. It has a kind of industrial ‘steam punk’ look but it works well and shows off SEPs’ engineering heritage. It’s certainly unique!

SEP’s engineering and manufacturing departments have also created the steel staircase leading up to the mezzanine floor. The mezzanine is basically a steel frame clad with pine floorboards. SEP designed and manufactured the steel and glass partition walls as well as most of the desks and work stations. A nice detail is the outline of Zimbabwe made from scrap parts in the director’s office. In the training department desks have been made from defunct solar panels. The desks work well, they’re cheaper than buying conventional (and boring) office desks, and there’s a 25 year warranty on the panels! Engineering and manufacturing can be fun too.

The family business is owned and managed by father and son team Oloff and Sebastian Smyth who together have an Electrical Engineer with over 40 years of experience in both light and heavy electrical engineering, while Sebastian studied Renewable Energy Engineering at the prestigious TAFE (Technical and Further Education) College in Australia and designs most of SEPs solar installations.

SEP was started in 2009 and before moving to the Pomona premises the business was run from the backyard office and workshops of the home of one of the owners at 16 Campbell Road in Borrowdale. Campbell Road is no longer operating as all the work previously done there has moved to the Pomona premises. From a fairly modest start as a small two man business SEP has rapidly grown to become the leaders in the solar energy field. They now have a permanent staff of 25 at Pomona with 45 installation teams across Zimbabwe.

Since 2009 SEP has successfully completed over 2,000 installations of solar projects, ranging from small scale residential projects to large scale industrial solar solutions, including commercial pumping systems recently won the biggest solar power tender in Zimbabwe to supply and install 642 solar systems for the UNDP in partnership with the Ministries of Health and Child Care and Public Works. Most of the systems are in fairly remote areas which have no access to the ZESA grid, and they will supply power for clinics and hospitals and other UNDP projects. The scale of the UNDP project has meant that SEP has set up an extensive in house training programme to establish 45 four person teams deployed across the country for installations. This makes them one of the biggest solar installations companies in the country – and certainly the company with the most experience. Unlike many other start-up companies, SEP has long ago made their mistakes, learnt from them, and together with their world-class technology partners they’ve developed and moved forward secure in the knowledge of their hard won skills.

SEP’s premises in Pomona has the capacity to run totally off the grid for all their requirements including lighting, their computer systems and even heavy machinery. They can run their welding and grinding machinery which use large amounts of electricity in intensive bursts. Most solar systems are not able to cope with these demands. All their handling equipment including cranes and forklifts also run off solar/ battery power so they can be used not just within the warehouse but also in more remote areas with no easy access to the grid.

– one of which is NatPharm in Masvingo and the second was a residential project, both in 2019. Their warehouse net meter system was installed this year. This means that when their electricity production exceeds their needs excess power is fed back to the national grid and SEP receives a credit so they can use the ZESA grid when or if they need it up to the limit of their credit. It also helps to prolong their battery life span. Their sister company Penelonga Renewable Energy is registered as an Independent Power Provider supplying the national Zimbabwean grid with up to 300kw and growing to 10MW in the next few years.

Apart from conventional residential and commercial applications, SEP is also involved in mining, manufacturing and agricultural projects. They supply solar water pumping solutions for mines and for irrigation and they have recently (together with Brown Engineering) created the Tsanga Ranch tobacco curing tunnel – a solar and hydro power. It’s a particularly ‘green’ solution as most and power, so it’s an environmentally friendly option. SEP are equally adept in creating all kinds of alternative energy production systems including solar power, hydro power and wind turbines. In fact, Oloff contributed to a wind power project on Ross Island in Antarctica!

Should you require an alternative energy solution SEP will visit your site and assess and monitor your energy needs over a period of time – not just a single day. They can then custom design a system that suits your unique situation, provide you with a quotation, import the equipment to supplement their stock on hand if necessary, and install the system on site. They also provide maintenance and repairs as needed and they’re a four year warrantee on their workmanship. Your solar system can be monitored from your phone or laptop and systems are real time.

SEP provides solar, hydro and wind powered solutions as well as solar power for backup and off-grid solutions, commercial solar water pumping, mains voltage stabilisers, pump protection relays, generator AVRs (automatic voltage regulators) and a host of related services including engineering and specialised manufacturing. They are the proud suppliers of major brands like Victron Energy, Jinko Solar, Pylontech. Although most of their components are imported from world-leading brands they do manufacture some elements locally including solar array frames, control and switch boxes, and other custom made apparatus as needed.

Whatever your energy requirements SEP can provide the solution. Because of the scale of their business plus their years of experience they can supply the best system at the most competitive prices with full backup and maintenance service.

Visit Solar Energy Projects at 522 Pomona Industrial Park Check out their website at: www.solarenergyprojects.co.zw Email: info@solarenergyprojects.co.zw Tel: +263 8677 193 262 Sales: +263 719 228 047 Workshop: +263 719 228 043

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ENERGY PROJECTS

522 Pomona Industrial Park, Pomona, Harare 522 Pomona Industrial Park, Pomona, Harare 522 Pomona Industrial Park, Pomona, Harare Tel: +263 8677 193 262 Sales: +263 719 228 047 Tel: +263 8677 193 262 Sales: +263 719 228 047 Tel: +263 8677 193 262 Sales: +263 719 228 047 WorkShop: +263 719 228 043 Accounts: +263 8677 193 262 WorkShop: +263 719 228 043 Accounts: +263 8677 193 262 WorkShop: +263 719 228 043 Accounts: +263 8677 193 262 info@solarenergyprojects.co.zw info@solarenergyprojects.co.zw info@solarenergyprojects.co.zw 43ISSUE 36 www.solarenergyprojects.co.zw www.solarenergyprojects.co.zw www.solarenergyprojects.co.zw