Oil and gas company Shell South Africa’s Alberton depot is pursuing sustainability through two projects, namely solar and battery power, and capacitation for biofuels, the company outlined during a media tour of the facility this week.

The Alberton depot is a storage and handling terminal for petrol, diesel, and some additives. Employees range between 60 and 100, depending on any project work that is on site, Shell Alberton terminal manager Fikile Nxumalo told Engineering News.

The solar and battery project is being undertaken by Africa-focused Daystar Power, which was acquired by Shell in 2022.

This is Daystar’s pioneer flagship project in South Africa and follows on it opening an office in the country in June 2023.

Daystar’s Alberton project includes the installation of a 352 kW solar PV project, generating about 640 MWh/y, and a 250 kVA battery, with 570 KWh storage. That battery provides about 150 MWh/y of throughput, of which 30 MWh is owing to grid arbitrage, the company said.

This means that off-peak tariffs are used to charge the battery, and it is discharged during peak tariffs. Therefore, not only is renewable energy used to reduce energy consumption at the site, but also, less costly grid energy is used to reduce the cost of grid energy consumption.

While the depot is not yet fully offgrid, this solution will enable Shell to reduce the Scope 2 greenhouse-gas emissions of the depot by 41%, or about 556 t/y of carbon emissions. Without the battery, the project would only achieve a 30% decrease in its Scope 2 emissions.

This was the first of Shell’s South African terminals to install a project of this nature, Nxumalo informed.

It is currently in the first phase of the project, while Phase 2 will begin at a later stage.

Work on the project started six months ago, and the infrastructure had since been completed. Nxumalo explained that the company was waiting until January to complete commissioning, to minimise disruptions and outages as the depot moves towards its peak.

This is a proof-of-concept project, whereby Daystar owns the asset, and provides energy to Shell for free for the first year, to showcase how the system works, and uses it as a reference for future projects for the company.

After year one, if proven successful, Daystar will enter into a power purchase agreement with Shell.

Further, there is also a biofuels component, which is still in progress.

Infrastructure is complete, with tanks installed at the depot to store the fuel. The necessary licences have also recently been acquired.

The company is analysing the supply chain for the fuel, to ensure that it has a sustainable pipeline, before commissioning the system.

It anticipates that the price of fuels will limit demand to a minority; however, the company is aiming to have the product available for those that require it. This also forms part of Shell’s journey towards reducing its carbon footprint and moving from diesel to biofuels.

Meanwhile, Shell South Africa in May announced that it plans to divest from its South African noncore downstream operations.

The Alberton depot is part of businesses being sold. Shell Downstream SA chairperson Aluwani Museisi confirmed that operations would not be impacted following the sale, as it would continue to be an important part of its downstream business, albeit with a change in shareholding. “The operational capability will remain the same,” he assured.

Museisi highlighted that interest in the sale had been “very good”, owing to it being a “very good, reliable asset, that is strategically located in the country”.