Johannesburg, April 24, 2023 – Kya Sands Business Park located in the Northwest suburbs of Johannesburg, has recently partnered with Northlands Energy, an independent power producer specialising in turn-key EPC projects featuring high voltage batteries and solar, to tackle the failing infrastructure in the region and the countries load shedding nightmare.
According to a recent report, South Africa experienced an average of 314 hours of load shedding per month in 2022, which equates to 3776 hours of load shedding throughout the year. This was a 227.49% increase from 2021. The country has already incurred 2439 hours of load shedding in 2023, and we are only in April. A concerning trend indicates a complete energy crisis and collapse. As load shedding continues to spiral out of control and with no end in sight, business parks like Kya Sands are turning to renewable energy solutions to become self-sustaining.
The business park was operating on the grid with two 500KVA backup diesel generator units, consuming around 120 litres of diesel per hour (144000 litres per year). The rising costs of diesel, regular generator servicing and hiked electricity costs were not only unsustainable for the tenants but also not a viable long-term solution for the park.
Michael Colin – MD of Northlands Energy said, “The only solution to ensure business continuity for tenants in the park was to install renewable energy, so as not to be completely reliant on grid power and backup diesel only. Our solution consisted of 400KW solar power, 800KWah lithium-ion batteries, and a 500KVA diesel generator unit. The business park now represents a green energy footprint, saving 239 tons of carbon, and planting over 12,000 trees. This is an added benefit of implementing a renewable solution.”
Tenants at the business park have welcomed the technology. From large industrial power users to small office-based companies, tenants can now focus on running their businesses and growing them, rather than wasting time-fighting load shedding and ongoing municipal outages.