{"id":640351,"date":"2022-11-03T09:25:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T07:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=640351"},"modified":"2022-11-03T09:25:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T07:25:50","slug":"this-private-school-in-south-africa-just-launched-its-own-solar-project-with-plans-to-roll-it-out-to-more-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/640351\/this-private-school-in-south-africa-just-launched-its-own-solar-project-with-plans-to-roll-it-out-to-more-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"This private school in South Africa just launched its own solar project – with plans to roll it out to more schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reddam House Constantia has launched a pilot renewable energy programme, building a solar project at the school that will produce enough energy to cover 40% of its power needs.<\/p>\n

If successful, the pilot project will be rolled out to other Reddam House and Reddford House schools.<\/p>\n

The schools are part of the Inspired Education Group (IEG), and the new solar system will be a grid-tied 244 kW solar solution that will save 172.72 tons of CO2 emissions each year and potentially generate 440,610 kW hours of energy annually – equivalent to the power used by more than 40 households per year, the group said.<\/p>\n

The Reddam House Constantia pilot installation will test the viability of executing the project across selected Reddam House and Reddford House schools in South Africa based on the viability relating to energy optimisation at each school.<\/p>\n

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Ravi Nadasen, CEO of Africa for Inspired Education Group, said that the pilot is part of its wider green energy plans and a move to reduce its own environmental impact and its dependence on power supplied by utility companies.<\/p>\n

“Solar energy over fossil fuels is one of the best ways to decrease carbon emissions and contribute to a healthy and sustainable environment for future generations,” Nadasen said. “Our system in Reddam House Constantia alone is projected to decrease carbon emissions that equate to saving 7,933 trees per year.”<\/p>\n

Nadasen noted that by embracing renewable energy, IEG as an educational group will be in a strong position to educate young people about the crucial need for sustainable solutions and the impact they have on the world.<\/p>\n

Nadasen says that in the future, the project makes provision for excess power generated by the system when the campus loads are lower and over weekends when the property has limited occupancy to be fed back to the local power grid. This will benefit the utility provider and lower the strain on the existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n

“If we are serious about moving towards energy independence in a cost-effective way, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about cutting air and water pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we should invest in solar energy,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Reddam House solar pilot joins a fleet of new and old solar projects that are being thrust into the spotlight in South Africa.<\/p>\n

South Africa is riding a swelling wave of renewable energy projects, including solar and wind. Eskom on Monday (31 October) launched its plans to convert one of its oldest power stations into a massive wind and solar project.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, brew maker Heineken launched its own massive 14,000-panel solar installation in the past week.<\/p>\n

Solar is also becoming a vital component within the retail sector, with South Africa\u2019s largest retailer, Shoprite, expanding its own solar installations, while new flagship stores for groups like Food Lovers are also backed by the technology.<\/p>\n

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Read: A look at the 1,500 square metre solar installation on one of South Africa\u2019s oldest wine estates<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa is riding a swelling wave of renewable energy projects, including solar and wind. Private schools are now looking to get in on the projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":640363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-640351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640351"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640369,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640351\/revisions\/640369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}