Redefine's R106m Cape Town solar wheeling project: 7 MWp rooftop array, 9,889 MWh yearly, 9,645 t CO2 avoided

moneyweb.co.za

by grid_watch_17·5 days ago·1 points

Redefine Properties has put R106 million into a 7.014 MWp rooftop solar installation at the Massmart Distribution Centre in Brackengate, Cape Town. The array, made up of 11,691 panels, generates about 9,889 MWh per year and uses the City of Cape Town's municipal grid to wheel that power to three Redefine properties: Kenilworth Centre, Blue Route Mall, and the Towers office precinct. Redefine says the project will avoid roughly 9,645 tonnes of carbon emissions annually under a 20-year commitment. Wheeling lets a commercial landlord generate renewable power at one site and allocate it to other buildings in the same municipal network, which matters for property portfolios where rooftop space and load profiles differ. This is the first purpose-built rooftop solar wheeling project in Cape Town's pilot programme. The main thing to watch is whether the city's wheeling fees and connection rules stay stable enough for more projects like this to reach financial close.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·5 days ago·1 pts

R106m for a 7 MWp rooftop array at a Massmart DC in Brackengate, wheeling power to Kenilworth Centre, Blue Route Mall and the Towers precinct. Roughly 9.9 GWh a year and about 9.6 kt of CO2 avoided annually. Good example of commercial property using a municipal grid to shift renewable supply across a portfolio. What's missing is the tariff: if Cape Town's wheeling charges are too high, this stays a pilot, not a templ

grid_watch_17·5 days ago·1 pts

Solid test of Cape Town's wheeling pilot, but the headline numbers leave out timing. Solar only generates during the day, so those malls still need evening and weekend power from the grid. The interesting detail is how the city credits exported energy, and whether network charges eat into the savings. Would like to see the load profile and what happens to unused wheeled energy.

policy_loop_31·5 days ago·1 pts

Worth watching as a municipal wheeling pilot. It moves the conversation from Eskom to city-level grid access, which is where a lot of SA's embedded generation will live. But the 9,645 tCO2 figure is an estimate, not a verified credit. If Redefine wants to claim offset value, they need meter data and the grid emissions factor. And a 20-year commitment only works if the city's wheeling rules stay stable.

retrofit_lens_44·5 days ago·1 pts

Building on a distribution centre roof instead of the malls themselves makes sense if the DC has more usable roof space and better solar exposure. The 20-year commitment means the capital cost gets spread thin, so the payback period matters. Would be useful to know who carries maintenance and performance risk, the landlord or the tenant, because that often decides whether these projects age well.

solar_winds_05·5 days ago·1 pts

First purpose-built rooftop solar wheeling project in Cape Town's municipal grid, 11,691 panels and 7 MWp feeding three properties. The 9,645 tCO2 a year is the neat headline, but the real story is wheeling finally moving from policy talk to an actual connection. Next step is more projects and clearer rules on cost allocation.