The construction of an 800 kW rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system at wine and spirit producer DGB’s production facility, in Wellington, in the Western Cape, has been completed.
The 2 600 solar panel system, which has a 25-year lifespan and which was installed by Terra Firma Solutions, was built across four different rooftops and covered an area of over 6 200 m2.
“We expect to save around 1 265 t/y of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere by using electricity from the solar power plant,” said DGB production director Ree du Toit.
She added that the project was not only an opportunity to improve the environmental performance of the company, but made sound financial sense from a capital investment point of view.
Terra Firma MD Ed Gluckman explained that the Drakenstein municipality, where DGB’s offices were based, was one of a few municipalities in the country which had a net metering embedded generation tariff available to the public.
“This enables the facility to export power back to the grid at the same R/kWh rate at which it pays the municipality,” he explained.
It was estimated that the plant would produce enough power to meet 45% to 50% of the DGB facility’s energy demand.
Edited by: Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online
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