Solareff opens new Cape Town office on back of regional boom
The Johannesburg-based Solareff group last week cut the ribbon on its new off-grid, 720 m2 regional office and warehouse in Cape Town.
Chief commercial officer DeVilliers Botha says the engineered solar PV and battery energy storage solutions (BESS) group had only two Cape Town employees four years ago, with this number now at 22.
The balance of the renewable-energy group’s staff – 143 people – is based at its 2 000 m2 facility in Roodepoort.
Solareff first opened its doors in Cape Town in 2016.
“We have a number of key clients here, as well as numerous systems to service and maintain,” explains CEO Jaco Botha.
“We are also looking to further expand our business in the Western Cape.”
Solareff’s next big job in the Western Cape is a 7 MW single-stage rooftop installation, with part of the output to be wheeled over the City of Cape Town network.
From 2016 to now, Solareff has seen its installations in the Western Cape grow from roughly 7 MW to 30 MW through the rollout of around 50 projects.
While Solareff’s current strength has been embedded solar rooftop generation, such as at Clearwater Mall and Eastgate Mall, its next phase of expansion will look to include more microgrids, tied to BESS.
South African Photovoltaic Industry Association CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu said at the opening ceremony that Solareff could claim around 5% of the installed 9 GW PV capacity in South Africa as its own.
She added that the solar energy industry was rapidly gaining ground and acceptance in South Africa.
Globally, the solar industry took 68 years to reach 1 TW of installed capacity, and then only two years to double that – in 2024 – to 2 TW.
Currently global installed capacity is at 3 TW.
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