Redefine Properties has switched on a R106 million solar plant on a warehouse roof in Brackengate, Cape Town. The power will travel through the City of Cape Town’s grid to three of the group’s properties.
The 7MWp plant sits on the roof of the Massmart distribution centre. It is expected to produce 9.89GWh of electricity a year, TechCentral reported.
“The project goes well beyond a conventional rooftop solar installation,” said Leon Kok, Redefine’s chief operating officer. “It reflects the level of engineering and coordination required to make wheeling viable at scale.”
Wheeling means sending power over the city’s network from where it is made to where it is used. The power from Brackengate will go to Kenilworth Centre, Blue Route Mall and The Towers office precinct. The deal runs for 20 years.
The plant has 11 691 panels spread over about 57 000 square metres of roof. It links to the municipal network at the Rubicon substation. This is done through its own mini-substation, an inverter station and a transformer yard, with about 300km of cabling.
“By using the capacity of one asset to support others, we’re creating a more efficient and resilient portfolio,” Kok said.
The plant came three years after Redefine first announced the project, and it cost R20 million more than first planned. In September 2023, the group described a 5.5MWp system making 8.8GWh a year. At the time, it was expected to cost R86 million and take about 60 weeks to build during 2024.
By August 2024, the design had grown to 6.2MW. The connection also had to move to another municipal substation. Engineering News reported that the city’s rules did not line up with the design rules for plants bigger than 5MW.
Johann Nell, Redefine’s head of developments and industrial asset management, said at the time that the start date had moved to the last quarter of 2025.
The cost rose by about 23%, but the size of the plant grew by about 28%. By TechCentral’s count, the cost per peak watt went from about R15.60 in 2023 to about R15.10 now.
The plant is large compared with the city’s pooled wheeling programme. That programme had moved about 3.1GWh between private power makers and customers by September, Engineering News reported. The pooled programme only started this year.
Wheeling in Cape Town began in September 2023. Growthpoint Properties and trader Etana Energy sent solar power from Constantia Village shopping centre to an office building on the Foreshore. In April, the same two firms shared power from a Free State hydro plant across five Growthpoint buildings.
In September, Xanthea Limberg, the city’s mayoral committee member for energy, said the city plans to open pooled wheeling to the market “in the months ahead, if all goes to plan”. She added that “wheeling customers still pay the correct network and subsidy-related charges”.
Redefine has not said how much of the three properties’ power needs the plant will cover, or how much it expects to save. In 2024, the group said Brackengate would cover more than 25% of the combined energy use of Kenilworth Centre and Blue Route Mall. The Towers was added to the plan later.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.