The rooftop solar rollout has gone a long way in reducing the group’s carbon footprint, Raghubir said, adding that the retailer’s total solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities now generate enough clean energy to power nearly 4,800 homes for a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The retailer\u2019s three-pronged approach includes reducing consumption, expanding its installed capacity of renewables and purchasing electricity in collaboration with independent power producers (IPPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve increased the amount of electricity we\u2019re buying from landlords and other suppliers by 91%. That\u2019s progress by any measure. The next step is wheeling: buying electricity from an IPP through the existing transmission network,” Raghubir said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Achieving that would be a massive step forward,” he said, but added that this would require greater collaboration between various stakeholders to establish a national wheeling framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In the interim, we will continue to improve energy efficiency wherever we can, and to this end, the Group has embarked on a refrigeration project. We\u2019ll also continue to install solar wherever its viable, whether on rooftops or carports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve set and are pursuing science-based targets to reduce our carbon emissions throughout our operations \u2013 in stores, distribution centres and transportation \u2013 with a sense of urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massive load shedding costs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite Shoprite’s progress in turning to renewables, the group is still suffering heavily from ongoing load shedding and the wider power crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November, the group revealed that it is spending\u00a0close to R94 million a month<\/strong>\u00a0on diesel to keep its operations going amid continued load shedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a voluntary trading update for the first quarter of its financial year (July to September 2023), the group said that its diesel bill for the three-month period had risen by R90 million to R281 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sharp increase in costs was attributed to the higher diesel price over the period relative to the same quarter last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reporting its full-year results for year ended June<\/strong><\/a>, Shoprite flagged a total diesel spend of R1.3 billion for the year to counteract the impact of load shedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The R281 million spent in just Q1 is already more than that total spent in the 2022 full-year (R226 million) and equates to over R3 million a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Shoprite-solar.jpeg\")
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