INDUSTRY STANDARDS
INTELLIGENT STORAGE SYSTEMS
AND THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH
AFRICAN REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY
South Africa is
no stranger to an
electricity grid
struggling to keep
up with an increasing
demand for energy.
Our localised solution
has been to cut power
when load demand
increases and leave
communities without
lights for hours, if not
days, on end. This
is, obviously, not a
sustainable path, and
Enel X, a global leader
with more than 50
years of experience in
the energy sector, is
creating new ways to
generate, store, and
supply energy.
I
n particular, the focus is to offer South African
real estate developers a replicable model
with residential and industrial applications
to integrate intelligently controlled solar
PV systems and micro-grids with existing
utilities in order to reduce electricity costs and
ensure a higher standard of living with a reliable
energy supply.
An effective application of such a solution could
see communities generating and consuming their
own energy, as is the case with the Marcus Garvey
Village, New York’s first self-sufficient residential
micro-grid implemented by Enel X. The 625-unit
apartment building is the perfect example of how
a localised network of electricity production and
control can meet the rising load demand while
lowering energy costs for its users.
In 2017, Enel X set out to install a solution at the
Marcus Garvey Village, with the key aims being
to provide local energy resilience, transform the
energy supply chain, lower costs, and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. This birthed the first
distributed energy network of its kind in New York
City, one of the world’s most energy-intensive
urban environments with a dated underground
energy network that’s incredibly expensive to
update and maintain.
The 2018 summer load demand for the area was
predicted to increase by 53MW. In order to update
the underground power grid to meet the additional
54
load demand for the Brownsville area, the
substation would have needed a US$1.2 billion
upgrade. This doesn’t include future upgrades in
2019, and reminds us that you can’t keep putting
a new plaster on an old, bleeding wound. The
2018 53MW load demand was onl y predicted for
four days of intense heat – and hence intense air-
conditioner use – in the summer. US$1.2 billion
for four days of extra energy doesn’t seem like
an economically viable option. But, until now, it
would have been the only one.
What Enel X accomplished in advancing New
York’s evolving digital grid is a true showcase of
what can be achieved when it comes to clean and
efficient energy.
The final solution had a number of individual
parts that came together to create a bespoke,
but replicable model of a micro-grid that serves
its community’s unique needs, while delivering
essential load relief for utilities at a time when
load demands outweigh delivery capacity. In the
case of the Marcus Garvey Village, energy use in
summer increases between 20:00 and 00:00 as
people cool their apartments. In winter, electric
heaters are used for warmth. This means a year-
long energy supply problem that was sensitive to
specific times of the day. A solution would need
to be created that could not only generate clean
energy but also supply it when it was needed
most, with as little waste as possible.