Midway, South Africa
Captive solar and battery storage give peace of mind to industrial park tenants
A rooftop solar array with battery storage is providing much-needed energy security to tenants of a nine-unit warehouse in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
Like most commercial and industrial (C&I) companies in South Africa, the tenants of Midway Square industrial park in Howick have had to endure regular interruptions to their energy supply because of the frequent and ongoing loadshedding due to the deterioration of the country’s aging generation plants.
But with a 225kWh rooftop solar PV array capable of generating around 312MWh annually and supported with 96kWh battery storage, the new installation is providing tenants with not only a source of clean electricity that supplements the grid during normal operations, but a reliable back-up energy supply for when the mains power goes down.
The installation took six months to complete following numerous delays due to bad weather and long lead times on equipment. Now up and running, the solar panels are expected to avoid 374 tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually and reduce electricity costs by <XX%?> on like-for-like power bills.
The work was carried out by Spark development partner Renen Energy Services Limited and marks its first operational project under the financing agreement between Spark and the South Africa-based sustainable energy specialist.
