Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa September 2013 | Page 56

SMART MOVES

BYJAMES COLBY

Invest In Power
New energy solutions in business

C

ountries like the USA are leading the
way when it comes to corporate retailers
and wholesalers investing in sustainable
buildings. They are well ahead of public bodies
when it comes to commercial solar panels and
investing in more sustainable modes of energy.
So where does South Africa fall on this scale
and what are we doing to make sure that the
commercial sector is geared towards green?
In the USA, companies like Wal-Mart and
IKEA have topped the charts in terms of their
efforts towards sustainability. Wal-Mart has
installed more than 150 US solar projects and
plans to have 1000 solar-powered locations
by 2020. IKEA has a strong commitment in
photovoltaic (PV) energy, and has plans to
double its investment in renewable energy, their
ultimate aim being to produce as much energy as
they consume by 2020.
With the cost of business rising in South
Africa, electricity has become a costly burden to
bear and petrol is already at R13 a litre, now is the
era for sustainable business. It makes economical
sense to install renewable energy technologies.
South Africa faces a power shortage and,
in the next 20 years, will need to build

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September 2013 SA Real Estate Investor

40 0 0 0M W of new generating capacit y.
Eskom has repeatedly stated that it cannot
do this alone and will require the entrance
of independent producers. An independent
systems and market operator was highlighted
in t he Nat iona l De velopment Pl a n a s
necessary to widen participation and accelerate
investment in the electricity sector. One way
that South Africa is looking at resolving
t his is t h rough t he Renewable Energ y
Independent Power Producer Procurement
Programme, (REIPPPP), which aims to have
3 725 megawatts of electricity generated from
renewable energy sources for the national
power grid, and to transform the South
African power grid.
One of the projects in REIPPPP is that of
the Energy Minister Dipuo Peters: a R240
million RustMo 1 Solar Farm developed
by black-owned energy group Momentous
Energy. The group is one of 18 preferred
bidders in the first window of the Department
of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent
Power Producer Procurement Programme.
T he bidders w i l l generate 631M W of
electricity from solar parks ranging in capacity
from 5MW to 64MW. The government’s
drive to exploit renewable energy is gaining

momentum, as South Africa’s energy needs
become more pressing.

Other projects in the pipeline
Search engine giant Google has invested
R103 million in the Jasper power project, a
96-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant near
Upington in South Africa’s Northern Cape
province, the organisation announced.
The project will be developed and funded
by US solar energy project development firm
SolarReserve, wind and solar farm developer
Intikon Energy and empowerment investment
company the Kensani Group.
Rand Merchant Bank, the Public Investment
Corporation, the Development Bank of
Southern Africa and the Peace Humansrus
Trust have also backed it.
Once complete, the Jasper project will be
one of the largest solar installations in Africa,
capable of generating enough electricity to
power 30 000 homes in the country.
Not to be left out of the renewable energy race,
Eskom obtained the energy regulator’s approval
to build a R2.4 billion wind farm in the Western
www.reimag.co.za