Durban mall to install largest solar PV rooftop plant in Africa

Investec Property plans to install the largest rooftop solar PV plant in South Africa on the top of Cornubia Mall in Durban. The plant - which will also become the largest in Africa - will be developed by Terra Firma Solutions.

Cornubia Mall. Image supplied

With a DC capacity of 5,254kWp (5,25MWp) and an AC capacity of 4,290kW (4,29MW), Cornubia Mall’s solar PV plant will be the largest rooftop-only solar PV plant in Africa. The current biggest rooftop-only system in Africa has a DC capacity of 4,755kWp (4,75MWp). When completed, the solar plant at Cornubia will be the largest on the continent, by 499kWp, which is roughly 10.5% bigger.

Cornubia celebrated its fourth birthday in September 2021. It has just expanded its retail footprint with the addition of The Pro Shop, which is expected to open in April 2022 and also expanded its Checkers. This will increase the mall’s gross lettable area to 67,000m². Cornubia also has a very low total vacancy of less than 1.5%, a metric it has sustained through the pandemic.