CLHG harnesses the sun

The successful installation of solar panels at the 118-room Road Lodge Centurion has resulted in large-scale solar panel installations at 25 of the group’s hotels, due to be completed by end-2019.

The solar installation project will be completed towards the end of 2019 and is one of the most widespread ventures of its kind undertaken by a hotel group in South Africa. Once completed, these solar panels will generate approximately 10% of the entire group’s energy requirements.

At a CLHG site visit of the successful pilot study of solar panel installation at the 118-room Road Lodge Centurion are (back, from left): Emile van der Merwe, head of property and development; Ross Phinn, divisional director: operations; Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo, chief operations officer; Anton Potgieter, Energy Resource Optimizers; Alastair Dooley, chief financial officer; (front, from left); Tony Balabanoff, divisional director: operations; and Mariska Von Richter, general manager of Road Lodge

Improving energy and water efficiency is a long-term environmental commitment by the group, and since 2011 CLHG has consistently reduced its absolute energy consumption by almost 40%, even while the hotel footprint has grown. CLHG was a runner-up in the Eskom eta Awards in 2013, an awards programme that recognises exceptional efforts in the efficient use of energy, which in turn benefits the environment.

Alastair Dooley, chief financial officer at CLHG, hails the upcoming large-scale solar installation project as a significant milestone for the group as it enters a new era in renewable power generation.

“We are incredibly proud of the group’s achievements with regards to energy conservation over the years. This is a significant milestone for us as we enter a new era in renewable power generation, and a positive step towards our own business and environmental sustainability,” says Alastair Dooley, chief financial officer at CLHG.