Solar farm developments are unique in their demand for resources over a short duration and require good co-ordination and planning especially considering these projects are situated in remote areas of South Africa, often far from local towns, backup and support.
The project
Solar project split into two sites about 70km apart, in the area around Douglas and Prieska in the Northern Cape, South Africa.
The challenge
Included the hard rock drilling through calcrete layers, dolerite boulders and mudstones and maintaining pile tolerances in terms of position. The free issued imported,
galvanised steel poles had cable ducts, which required them to be orientated during installation and the verticality of the piles was important.
The solution
Installation of 6 000 No. 255mm diameter, 3.4m deep, percussion piles (micropiles) with free issue 220mm diameter galvanized steel poles driven into wet concrete, orientated and levelled.