Approval has been granted for the grid connection of a large solar PV plant and battery system, marking a watershed moment in renewable energy projects in South Africa.
The solar PV and lithium-ion battery system will form one of South Africa’s largest microgrids. The 1.8MW solar PV facility alongside a 2.9MWh battery is for use by a C&I customer. It is grid-connected and thus able to stabilise the local electricity grid.
SOLA Group built the system for PepsiCo sub-Saharan Africa. It will secure the food and beverage company’s energy supply and reduce carbon emissions at its distribution centre near Kempton Park in Johannesburg.
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Umesh Himraj, PepsiCo SSA Engineering Sustainability Lead, said they are pleased to implement such a landmark project at a South Africa facility. “This approach and investment into renewable energy form part of our PepsiCo positive journey – a strategic end-to-end transformation with sustainability at the centre of how the company will create growth and value,” said Himraj.
SOLA Group has engineered and constructed the microgrid solution to provide close to 100% renewable energy for the facility, said company CEO, Dom Wills. “The solution we devised uses the roof space at PepsiCo’s facility to house solar modules which generate enough solar electricity during the day to run the plant entirely, and store excess power in the battery,” he explained.
Grid unreliability starting to push C&I business to seek alternatives
While microgrids are an appealing option for self-generated electricity in South Africa, they have always been an expensive choice. Recently though, substantial cost reductions in renewable energy technology, alongside grid unreliability and rising electricity tariffs, are making the option more feasible for large energy consumers.
In 2021 alone, South Africa experienced over 1,130 combined hours of loadshedding, making it a large enough risk for businesses such as PepsiCo to seek out alternatives.
“We didn’t expect it to be financially viable for large energy consumers to completely defect from the grid for another two years. However, after years of compounded electricity price increases, this investment is turning out to be lucrative for large energy consumers, providing cheaper power and immunity from loadshedding. In addition, many companies have sustainability targets and are looking to make their operations more environmentally friendly,” explained Wills.
Despite the ability of the plant to be completely off-grid, the renewable energy system has also received the requisite municipal and NERSA approvals to connect to the grid. This will eventually allow PepsiCo SSA to sell excess energy back to the municipality.
Originally published by Theresa Smith on esi-africa.com
