Property owner Liberty Two Degrees (L2D) has expanded the rooftop solar system at the Eastgate Shopping Centre, in Johannesburg, by nearly 6 MW.

This adds to the 1.22 MW system installed at the mall during the first phase in 2020, taking its overall capacity to 7.22 MW.

The mall now has almost 13 675 solar panels, which equates to 35.04% of the energy required to run Eastgate’s daily load, generated through solar energy. The rooftop solar installation is set to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

Investing in solar power was a strategic decision taken by L2D to provide a cost-effective, efficient and environment-friendly means of generating electricity.

“This innovation in renewable-energy generation at Eastgate is testament to L2D’s position in environmental leadership. L2D is proud to lead many firsts in this space,” says L2D sustainability lead Brian Unsted.

The Eastgate solar installation covers most of the available mall roof space, an area of about 28 100 m².

To ensure that no parking space was lost, new structural steel subframes were constructed on the roof, with solar panels placed on top of them.

“This is a significant achievement attributable to a collective effort from our property team, professional consultants, service providers as well as through our tenants’ support and cooperation,” says L2D developments executive Melinda Isaacs.

“L2D prides itself on collaborating with the best in the industry to achieve its net-zero carbon targets. What also makes this achievement noteworthy is the fact that due to the reduced reliance on the grid, Eastgate will see an estimated reduction of 10.9 t of CO₂ emissions per year, for both phases 1 and 2 combined. We are very proud to have achieved this milestone towards L2D’s net-zero carbon journey,” she adds.

The professional consultant and contract partners on the solar project included Acost Quantity Surveyors, Batley Partners Architects, Comprac, Concor Construction, MNS Engineering, Origin Project Managers, SOLINK, Solareff and Zutari.