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Based on our excellent service and knowledge we have rendered to the Botswana Meteorological Department as well as University of Hamburg, CTS was able to secure the 2nd Phase of the manufacture, supply and installation of automatic weather stations in Botswana.

The stations supplied to make use of satellite communication due to the extreme remoteness of the sites, these were:

• Mababe (Savuti Marsh)
• Tubu (Okavango)
• Baines Drift (Eastern Botswana)
• Xade (Central Kalahari Game Park)
• Ngwaltle (Western Botswana)

These stations are not located at any Meteorological Department property, thus fences had to be erected for protection against animals.

Station design is based on our well proven tripod mast with all relevant sensors and a CR1000 logger as the processing unit. Data is transmitted at fixed timeslots allocated by EUMETSAT (Germany) on an hourly basis. Satellite transmission is based on a fire and forget principle, thus no remote maintenance can be done.

Weather data can be found at: http://www.sasscalweathernet.org .

CTS was approached by a senior resident of Klein Windhoek to install a grid-tied photovoltaic system with the aim to cut back on the monthly electricity bill. The system included:

• 42x 130W photovoltaic modules and mounting structure
• 1x 6kW grid tied inverter

The system is designed such as to generate an estimated 900kWh per month.

A 71kW grid tied (Nampower ) PV system was installed at the Klein-Aus Vista Lodge just outside Aus. Remote Monitoring and Energy meter is included to obtain precise information about own consumption as well as exported power. This aids in future electrical reticulation upgrades and designs.

System Specifications are:

• 240 x 295W Canadian Solar PV modules
•  3 x Fronius Symo 20.0 – 3 Grid Inverter
• Shed roof mounting with structure for IBR roof sheeting
• AC & DC surge and Lightning protection
• Configured for remote monitoring

CTS was awarded the first ever containerized off-grid solar electrification tender for the Ministry of Mines and Energy beginning of 2013. This project entailed:

• Upgrading of all government building wiring as per national standard for 9 sites in the Omusati region
• Manufacture, supply and install container power units for these sites.

The power containers consisted of ca 2.8kW of PV modules installed on the roof as well as 3,000 to 4,500 Ah of battery capacity depending on site requirements. Five KVA inverter charger and two 70A Blue Solar Charge regulator all from Victron Energy complete the system.

With a total of nine containers, school, hostels and other government buildings were electrified. Each container was subdivided into two rooms for batteries and inverter technology respectively.

With our 36T/m crane truck CTS was able to transport the container to site, navigating through thick sand with ease.

A modern hot water plant was installed based on heat pump technology. Stiebel Eltron storage tanks as well as heat pumps are supplied that are extremely energy efficient and long life expectancy while at the same time low on maintenance. Further energy savings are achieved as the system is connected to heat recovery units as part of the refrigeration plant.

The challenge of such a system is to guarantee even loading and unloading of the tanks with water to guarantee a uniform temperature distribution in all tanks. This has been achieved by careful piping planing based on the Tichelmann principal.

The system comprises of the following:

• 6x 1000 L buffer tanks
• 2x 23kW heat pump units.
• various pumps and control unit

An off gird PV system with generator back up was installed at the Gcwatjinga clinic south east of Rundu. The system comprises of the following components:

• 6.24 kW PV array
• 2x Victron BueSolar 150V/70A MPPT regulator
• 600Ah Battery capacity
• Inverter/Charger, Victron Multi, 48V/8000VA
• System Monitoring (BMV700, Color Control GX)

The clinic was connected to the grid, which at time of system design and installation the grid connection plans were unknown to the engineer. As the clinic has PV installed, the existing system has been configured such as to allow for grid connection once the batteries reach a predefined SOC. This guarantees a continuous supply of power to the clinic and nurse houses.

In addition to the grid, a backup generator is incorporated in case PV as well as grid failure occur.