The Cape of Good Hope SPCA along with the rest of the country has been faced with rolling blackouts. This has made the Cape of Good Hope SPCA go green by installing solar panels with an inverter battery backup. With price hikes and rolling black-outs said to continue over the next five years, the impact on operations, productivity, saving lives and livelihoods were too great to ignore for the 150-year-old animal welfare organisation.
Chief Executive Officer, Moyo Ndukwana says: “We have chosen the grid-tied solar system with modular battery backup to streamline our electricity supply and reduce dependency on the national grid, ensuring that essential operations can continue during load shedding. This is one of several solutions implemented for us to lead sustainability in a complex and challenging economic environment.”
Cape of Good Hope SPCA’s grid-linked solar saving
In September 2021, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA installed 68 solar panels, and an inverter with battery backup. The 30kWp capped system in conjunction with internal consumption adjustments resulted in a more than R15 000 saving on the electricity payment for the month of October and is expected to save more than R200 000 p/a
The modular design of the system installed by the Cape of Good Hope SPCA now makes it possible to expand the system to include more battery capacity in the future with an aim to increase energy savings from the solar panels and utilises the full allowable electricity generation limit, within the current legislation imposed by the City of Cape Town for the allocated area.
Consider eco-friendly alternatives
New Research, Development and advancing technology has made it possible to capture solar energy, convert it into electricity and store it. Solar panels on buildings and homes have been available on the market for quite some time. New systems-which incorporate solar into roofing shingles-are now aesthetically pleasing, efficient and durable.
Alternative energy, also known as “free energy” is produced naturally without affecting the environment. Though many of the methods used to harness alternative energy sources may still seem impractical to some business sectors or they may argue that the devices used are too expensive to install, the experience shown by the Cape of Good Hope SPCA now shows that they are saving more as an organisation and successfully offsetting their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and further reducing our carbon footprint.
“The time is now to consider renewable energy collectively in order to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, improve our air quality, offset greenhouse gas emissions as well as stimulate green job creation in the manufacturing and installation of solar energy systems”, says the Cape of Good Hope SPCA.
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Picture: Facebook / Cape of Good Hope SPCA