Historic first for Growthpoint as it wheels electricity in Cape Town

JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) Growthpoint has managed to wheel solar-generated electricity from its Constantia Village retail property to one of its head offices in the City of Cape Town (CoCT).

This makes the Reit the first to transport renewable energy from one location to another using the city’s transmission lines, it said on Thursday.

According to Growthpoint, a wheeling agreement was signed with the city in August.

After a successful injection to the city’s energy grid last Sunday, power was able to be transferred to Growthpoint’s 36 Hans Strijdom office building in the Foreshore area of the city.

“This project brings Growthpoint closer to our climate commitment of being carbon neutral by 2050 and is the starting point to providing clean green energy to our tenants in Cape Town to further their environmental commitments,” Growthpoint SA CEO Estienne de Klerk said in a statement.

Read: Growthpoint improves vacancies as office market stabilises

This latest development reportedly lays the ground for future projects, forming part of the city’s six-month pilot project which includes 15 wheeling participants representing 25 generators and 40 customers.

Pilot project

In an effort to beat down power cuts in the city and optimise solar capacity for private generators, the city’s pilot project gives businesses the space to transport energy from rooftop solar panels to multiple locations within its transmission grid’s reach.

“Overall, Cape Town is planning to add up to one gigawatt of independent power to end load shedding in the city over time,” says Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

“The exact mix may vary, but we expect wheeling to contribute up to 350MW to the grid in time.

“This is good news for the economy and the coming energy transition, which Cape Town is proud to be at the forefront of.”

‘Much-needed’ relief

Licensed electricity trader Etana Energy, a participating trader in this wheeling exercise, said it is excited to start rolling out the relief to municipal customers.

“We are incredibly excited about this landmark initiative,” says Etana Energy director Reyburn Hendricks.

“Allowing the wheeling of electricity to municipal connected customers will accelerate Etana’s mission of bringing much-needed new renewable energy generation onto the grid in South Africa.”

According to Growthpoint, this recent victory sets the base for the owner of industrial, retail, office and residential properties to wheel renewable energy to all its buildings in Cape Town.

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