Wonderboom Junction north of the city center is currently having the largest rooftop solar plant in South Africa installed. A massive 7 000m² solar photovoltaic (PV) and made up of 3 600 solar panels along with 18 inverter. It will generate approximately 10 to 15% of the annual electricity required for the shopping mall and will be completed in less than three months’ time. What a great way to mitigate rising electricity costs.
Eskom is under pressure to meet energy demands and costs for electricity are constantly on the rise and there is no telling when things will get better. There is certainly no getting better with the new investments in nuclear South Africa is presenting to the country as “good”. Investments in nuclear are a snare and will not solve South Africa’s current electricity crisis, since new nuclear reactors will take at least a decade to build and will cost an estimated R1 Trillion.
According to the World Bank, the world economy – the total of 194 economies- produced $77.9 trillion in 2014 with South Africa contributing a measly $349.8 billion or 0.45% of the world’s total GDP, Gross Domestic Product, Greenpeace strongly believes that nuclear is an expensive dead-end road to nowhere, because the country simply cannot afford Nuclear. Renewable energy is the solution to the current electricity crisis.
The Solar Lovers have fallen deeper in love with solar energy and the sun after witnessing first hand a 37 000m² to 58 000m² shopping complex being transformed completely from using fossil fuel to 100% Renewable Energy. What Greenpeace is asking supermarkets to do is not a far-fetched unrealistic ambition but is as realistic as the environmental crisis the country will face if nothing is done. Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Massmart, Spar and Shoprite are now left without an excuse.
Join the Solar Lovers and help put pressure on South African supermarkets to make the commitment to 100% Renewable Energy. Add your voice to those who lobby the South African government to quit fossil fuels and make solar energy the only alternative to South Africa’s energy crisis.
