In a move set to revolutionise the way residential estates handle South Africa's energy crisis, IMPOWER has launched a flagship PV solar and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility, utilising innovative single axis tracking technology, at Coral Beach Residential Estate. Previously, vandalisation by copper thieves, resulted in frequent, extended power outages, in addition to the regular load shedding schedule. A typical 2 – 5 hour backup power system simply wouldn’t be sufficient.
This project pushed the group to its limits, explains CEO Jay Naidoo. “The new state-of-the-art microgrid facility is the first of its kind in SA. It was a huge challenge to get the project up and running, but together with our partners JA Solar, Solar MD and Schletter Mounting Systems, we were able to successfully implement this technically complex project,” he explains. Gabriel Kroes, IMPOWER’s head of engineering, weighs in: “We needed to build something future-proof. The newly launched system boasts a solar capacity of 388 kW and a Li-ion battery energy storage system with a capacity of 1.5MWh.”
“At a time when so many are living in the dark due to loadshedding, we're proud to be blazing a new trail with a solar-powered estate that's able to provide our residents with reliable, sustainable energy.” enthuses Coral Beach Estate owner Charles Pittaway.
One of the major obstacles to renewable energy adoption has been the prohibitive upfront costs. IMPOWER mitigated this through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) model, allowing the Homeowners Association to pay for the power on a pay-as-you-use basis, and eliminating the need for any upfront capex investment on their part. In this model, IMPOWER and its partners are direct investors, with a real stake in the project’s success. e Selling energy to the home-owners’ association, via a long-term PPA.,the company currently matches Eskom’s energy cost, but unlike conventional power, energy costs won’t rise significantly over the years.
Previous landmark installations include commercial-scale facilities at the Capitec Head Office in Stellenbosch, 24 Central Commercial Park in Sandton, and at the K90 Shopping Centre in Boksburg. IMPOWER Pty Ltd. was founded in 2014, specialising in engineering, procurement and project management contractor (EPCM) within the Solar and Energy Storage industry.
