Case Study:

Oya Energy Hybrid Project – Sutherland District, South Africa

Role: Geovantage as On-Site Survey Control, Construction Support & QA Lead

Client: SinoHydro (on behalf of ENGIE / G7 Renewable Energies)

Location: Between Ceres and Sutherland, Western & Northern Cape, South Africa

Project Overview

The Oya Energy Hybrid Facility is a groundbreaking and, in fact, the largest hybrid renewable energy project of its kind in Africa, blending 155 MW solar PV, 86 MW wind, and a 94 MW / 242 MWh battery storage system on one site. It delivers dispatchable, clean energy to Eskom via a 20‑year PPA, powering roughly 180 000 households and reducing annual CO₂ emissions by over half a million tonnes. This project is globally ambitious—leveraging AI‑managed hybrid control to maximise efficiency in variable renewables.

Challenges Faced

Ensuring QA through as-built verification, minimizing rework and safeguarding design m
Supporting volume and progress tracking across evolving site geography.
Coordinating survey activities across multiple contractors and zones, maintaining real-time alignment between teams.
Delivering immediate, high-precision setting-out for complex civil and turbine base works
Developing a unified control infrastructure across a sprawling, multi-disciplinary site for solar, wind, and battery teams.

Scope of Work

Progress measurement through UAV and ground surveys
As-built verification for foundations and infrastructure
Volume assessments and earthworks QA
Road alignment and base location marking
Baseline NGL and terrain capture
Full control establishment and expansion

Our Approach

GeoVantage embedded a multi-disciplinary survey team early, starting with NGL (Natural Ground Level) surveys to inform design engineers. We then established and maintained robust GNSS and total station-based control networks, from which all site development flowed.

During construction, we provided:

Immediate as-built surveys, capturing the actual built location of structures for QA and record-keeping.
Volume tracking, via UAV and survey-grade mapping—crucial for contractor reporting and progress claims.
Wind turbine base layout, including excavation and blast-level checks.
Access road set-out, ensuring correct alignment for civil teams.

Technology & Deliverables

Instrumentation:

Digital Levels—for fine accuracy in elevation control
UAV Photogrammetry—for large-scale progress capture and volumetrics
Robotic Total Stations—for millimetre-level layout of turbine bases and infrastructure
GNSS RTK systems—for rapid, high-accuracy control and positioning

Deliverables:

Outcome & Impact

Geovantage’s involvement enabled seamless liaison between multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring precision from design through construction. With above-ground and sub-structure verification in near-real time, the project stayed aligned with tight tolerances, helping reduce remobilization and set-up errors. The Oya project now stands not just as a renewable energy milestone, but as a blueprint for dispatchable, clean energy infrastructure in the Southern Hemisphere, and Geovantage’s precision surveying was pivotal to its precision execution.