Solar PV project at De Ville Shopping Centre completed

De Ville Shopping Centre

1,206 solar panels were installed on the roof of the De Ville Centre and these will supply approximately 8% of the centre's electricity requirements.

The project was managed by Spire Sustainable Solutions on behalf of the Tower Property Fund who owns De Ville. Simon Penso, head of Sustainability for Spire's Sustainability Division, explains that this is the largest solar installation undertaken by his team to date and initial results are very exciting.

"The system went live on Wednesday, 11 November and within a few hours had produced a peak production of 317Kw - in overcast conditions. The installed peak is 319Kw so we are very pleased with these early results."

Weather station

The De Ville PV solar installation is being monitored through a roof top weather station that feeds results through to an online portal that allows Spire Property Management to check how the system is performing at any time.

In addition to the installation at the De Ville Shopping Centre, solar panels are also being installed at the sites of 382 Jan Smuts and 6-8 Sturdee Avenue in Johannesburg. These various installations are expected to supply approximately R1.2m worth of electricity in the first year of operation.

"The value of this power will increase in direct proportion to electricity price increases," says Penso. "This power is resold on to the tenants and so will no longer need to be purchased from Eskom."

Gregg Huntingford, CEO of Spire Property Management, explains that Spire's Sustainable Solutions Division contains some of the best available skills, as well as access to the best resources and best of breed practises, through their relationship with the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA). This focus is essential in the present business environment, with constraints on energy supply being a foremost concern in the property industry.

New campaign

"Spire's newly launched Sustainable Solutions division, and our focus on green retrofitting, such as the recently completed PV solar installation at De Ville, is in keeping with a new campaign that is being launched by the WGBC at the COP21 Climate Change Talks called #betterbuildgreen," says Huntingford.

"The focus of this necessary campaign is to bring awareness to the role that buildings play in global warming. The built environment is a significant contributor to energy use and emissions. The campaign further highlights that if we are to limit global warming to 2°C, seen as a manageable increase, we need to dramatically reduce emissions, and better address energy and water use.

"Spire is pleased and excited to be doing its part in moving the built environment in South Africa towards a more sustainable future through the work undertaken by Spire Sustainable Solutions. We look forward to rolling out further green measures on behalf of our clients and for the market at large," concludes Huntingford.