Heidelberg Mall in Gauteng is going 100% off-grid thanks to a 3.2 MWp, 3.1 MWh hybrid power project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Energy Partners (EP) delivered the hybrid project to the Futuregrowth Community Property Fund-owned mall, ensuring a 24\/7 uninterrupted power supply, handling loads of up to 2.5MVA and reducing the mall’s overall electricity expenditure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heidelberg Mall is a 35,000 sqm single-floor regional shopping centre with 120 retail stores, restaurants, and services. It is roughly 50 km Southeast of Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EP\u2019s Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) control philosophy and engineering design integrate three power generation sources: the grid serves as a backup, while solar and diesel generation are the primary generation sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EP said that its hybrid system guarantees peak demand reduction, increases self-consumption from excess solar generation, saves on diesel, and achieves arbitrage savings (AKA load shifting). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe rooftop solar system can carry the mall\u2019s full load during the day, and the BESS is sized to ensure autonomy during load shedding and even unexpected grid failures using smart load management and diesel generation,” said Charl du Plessis from EP Power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe design guarantees zero interruption on full mall load when the grid fails, including unexpected grid failures.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Additionally, the design protects the entire mall load from voltage fluctuations and other grid power quality issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The control philosophy is fully integrated with various external systems that optimise electricity usage and expenditure, including smart load management in the mall on HVAC, weather prediction integration for solar generation forecasting, and load shedding schedule planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The system is then remotely monitored on the other side of the country via real-time dashboards at EP’s plant monitoring hub in Bellville, Cape Town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EP\u2019s asset management team also oversees several other energy-using products, including steam boilers, hybrid generation power plants and refrigeration systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Exciting” <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Manie de Waal, EP\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, notes that the project is another step in an already proven partnership with the Future Growth Community Property Fund, which began in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Over the past seven years, we\u2019ve successfully implemented more than 13 MWp across 11 properties,” said De Waal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe ability to continuously trade and reduce energy costs over the long term will result in better long-term value in our properties relative to our competitors,” added Smital Rambhai, the Fund Manager of the Futuregrowth Community Property Fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Not only is Energy Partners assisting us in delivering a cutting-edge hybrid power system that will enhance returns for our investors, but it will reduce our carbon footprint at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The successful deployment of the off-grid system depends on the level of support after commissioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re proud of what we\u2019ve been able to achieve for Futuregrowth Community Property Fund so far,\u201d said De Wall<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the Heidelberg Mall hybrid generation project is truly groundbreaking, and it unlocks the possibility of securing energy supply across their entire portfolio.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several shopping centres in South Africa have started installing massive backup\/alternative energy supplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eastgate Shopping Centre in Germiston<\/a>, Ekurhuleni, is set to have the latest registered rooftop solar installation in the country, with the mall having close to 13,675 solar panels, equating to roughly 35.04% of the energy required to run the mall’s daily load. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, this pales in comparison with the Shoprite Group, which has over 185,000 sqm of solar across 91 of its operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As of December 2023, South Africa’s largest retailer reported having enough solar panels to cover the equivalent of more than 26 soccer fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read<\/strong>: <\/a>Businesses rush to save South Africa \u2013 2 years away from its next crisis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A major regional mall in South Africa has given Eskom the boot and moved its power supply 100% off-grid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":782726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[6757,26],"class_list":["post-782693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-futuregrowth","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782693","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782693"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":782731,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782693\/revisions\/782731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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