Woolworths makes big push into solar

Retailer Woolworths has confirmed that it will invest a further R17.5 million in renewable energy projects in South Africa.

The latest investment includes various solar installations to the value of R10.5 million and a renewable energy agreement to the value of R7.3 million per annum at key locations, including the company’s head office and distribution centres in Cape Town and stores in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

The store and head office installations are projected to have a payback period of four to five years, it said.

“The expansion of the solar installations at Woolworths’ head office building triples the capacity of the initial pilot completed in 2013, adding an additional 357 kilowatts. This will increase the solar energy capacity at the Woolworths head office to 465 kilowatts.”

The retailer said that the extension will cover approximately 11% of its energy requirements at the head office, including its power-intensive national data centre.

“At the retail level, transitioning to renewable energy requires substantial investment and collaboration with shopping centre owners. Retailers like Woolworths often face challenges because they don’t own the roof and rely on progressive and flexible landlords,” it said.

The group has set an ambitious goal to source all its energy from renewables by 2030.

“Working with the renewable energy industry, energy traders, retail landlords, government and local municipalities has been crucial in making this shift.

“Our 2030 goal encompasses not only switching to renewable energy but also maximising energy efficiency.

“Through numerous interventions, including the installation of fridge doors in 348 of our food markets, smart technology and energy efficiency practices across all our stores, we have achieved a two-thirds reduction in our stores’ energy intensity over the last 15 years,” it said.

Solar boom

The latest “light paper” from solar rental group, GoSolr, shows that rooftop solar in South Africa is continuing to surge—even in the face of an extended suspension of load shedding by national utility Eskom.

The group said that the drive for solar has moved on from a “crisis response” to load shedding and is now being pushed forward by households, businesses and industries looking to operate more sustainably and to mitigate the coming threat of unsustainable Eskom tariff hikes.

So far in 2024, approximately 586MW of rooftop solar has been added in South Africa, 350 MW of which was added in the last quarter (April to June) when load shedding was suspended.

Total installed rooftop solar in the country is approaching the 6,000MW mark, currently sitting at an estimated 5,790MW.

GoSolr said that the increased use of rooftop solar and alternative energy has contributed significantly to Eskom’s ability to keep load shedding at bay.

While the power utility has staged a major turnaround thanks to its aggressive maintenance programme over the past 12 months—which has seen a spectacular reduction in breakdowns—it has also seen a significant decline on the demand side.

Demand patterns for summer and winter have consistently been lower than historical values, and many experts and analysts attribute this to the rise of private supply in the country.

As the utility moves to continue hiking tariffs by double-digits every year for the foreseeable future, GoSolr warned that this will ultimately have the long-term consequence of pushing power users to go off-grid and find other alternatives.

Read: Warning over Eskom price hikes in South Africa – as rooftop solar nears 6,000MW