Shoprite expands solar PV project; 19 sites outfitted
Fast-moving consumer goods company the Shoprite Group has expanded its solar photovoltaic (PV) programme, with 19 of its sites in South Africa and Namibia now boasting rooftop PV installations.
There are now 18 Shoprite Group stores throughout South Africa and Namibia that use solar power, including Checkers stores in Plettenberg Bay Mall, Woodlands, Parys, Sitari, Gordons Bay, Constantia, Hermanus and Whale Coast Mall.
In addition, Shoprite stores using solar power are Strand (Western Cape), Shoprite Rustenburg (North West), Shoprite Devland (Gauteng), Shoprite Kimberley and Kathu (Northern Cape) and Shoprite Oshakati, Otjiwarongo, Ongwediva and Tsumeb (Namibia).
The group’s largest installation, at its Basson distribution centre in Brackenfell, comprises 7 706 m2 of panels.
In addition to its rooftop solar installations, the group has also fitted 649 solar panels to the roofs of its refrigerated trucks, which generate 760 MWh a year. These enable drivers to switch off truck ignitions at delivery locations, reducing noise and exhaust pollution, while keeping the cold chain intact.
Shoprite says the power generated through these means is enough energy to power 1 040 refrigerators for a full year.
Shoprite Group sustainability manager Sanjeev Raghubir says Shoprite recognises that climate change poses direct and indirect risks to its business and the communities it serves. “Therefore we are taking measures to tread more lightly on our planet.”
Apart from its solar panel installations, he says the group has also signed an agreement which will see it procure 434 000 MWh of renewable energy a year for the next seven years. “We are the first retailer to close such a deal, which is arguably the first of its kind in Africa.”
Meanwhile, in a bid to find innovative ways to reduce electricity use, the group has also replaced fluorescent lamps with energy-efficient light-emitting-diode lamps – a process costing R98.3-million initially, but saving 83.8 million kilowatt-hours of energy in the four years since its inception.
Further, Shoprite recently scored an A- for its climate change and water security disclosures on the globally recognised disclosure system CDP platform.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation