The new 33 kV power line constructed between the Karoo substation and the MeerKAT site was switched on for the first time at the end of September 2010 to allow for testing and commissioning of the line from the substation to the Klerefontein Support Base, MeerKAT site complex and KAT 7 radio telescope.
The KAT-7 telescope is now powered by the new grid power line which is currently being operated at 22 kV – this will be switched over to 33 kV once the upgrade to the Karoo substation has been completed in March 2012.Back-up power is also provided to the radio telescope and buildings on site and at Klerefontein for use in the case of an Eskom outage.
Once the voltage regulators have been installed, final Eskom acceptance testing will take place to verify that the design conforms to all Eskom standards and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa radio frequency interference requirements, which were defined by the project in the grid design report.
Data connectivity between SKA SA Cape Town office and the MeerKAT site
The interim 10 Mbps data link between the SKA SA Pinelands office in Cape Town and the KAT-7/MeerKAT site outside Carnarvon in the Northern Cape went live for the first time on Wednesday, 19 January 2011.
The 10 Mbps link was commissioned by the South African National Research Network (SANReN) on behalf of the SKA SA project, and will be managed by Tenet.
This interim link is an important milestone for the SKA SA project, as the commissioning and operation of the KAT-7 radio telescope – an engineering prototype for MeerKAT – can now take place from the SKA SA Engineering headquarters in Cape Town. This will reduce the engineering and commissioning team's travelling time from Cape Town to the Karoo considerably.
The data link comprises a 48-fibre cable from the MeerKAT site complex to the SKA SA point of presence station in Carnarvon, and interfaces with 5 x 1 984 Mbps bonded links to Cape Town.
SANReN recently awarded the contract for the provision of the long-term MeerKAT and Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) 10 Gbps data link to two telecommunication companies.The first stakeholders' meeting was held on Friday, 21 January, to discuss the implementation of the long-term link which is expected to be completed by the end of June 2011 for both the MeerKAT site and SALT in Sutherland.The shared 10 Gbps link will cater for the full MeerKAT bandwidth requirements in future.
Commenting on this milestone, the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, said: "This demonstrates South Africa's commitment to ensuring that the SKA becomes a major catalyst for scientific development in Africa".
Enquiries:
Tommy Makhode
Cell: 082 379 8268
