Myles Illidge, writing for My Broadband, reports that Solar MD — a lithium-ion battery storage manufacturer — is expanding to a larger facility from its existing plant in Montague Gardens, and the new site will help it increase its products from 120 to 300 batteries per year.

The new facility, located in Richmond Park, will be four times the size of the Montague Gardens site. It will also allow it to increase its workforce from 120 to 240 employees. Atterbury Property is managing the project, and the expected completion date is May 2024.

“This development marks an exciting moment for Cape Town,” said Alderman James Vos, City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for economic growth. “Not only does this investment fuel Cape Town’s drive towards a smarter, cleaner and more secure energy future, but it also makes this metro the base for the production of these batteries that are exported into Africa and Europe.”

Solar MD has invested more than R150-million in its development projects since its founding in 2015 and plans to invest nearly R1-billion over the next five years.

Its growth has been supported by GreenCape, the City of Cape Town’s Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in the green economy, and Wesgro.

“This shows the tangible value of partnering with SPVs. In fact, by supporting companies such as Solar MD, GreenCape helped to facilitate R1,733-billion in investments in the last financial year for Cape Town which led to hundreds of jobs,” said Vos.

“In the next year, we are going to expand our investment campaigns of Cape Town as a green energy hub while extending skills development opportunities to more communities and small businesses.”

Acknowledgment

This article was first published by My Broadband