JSE-listed Vukile Property Fund will invest about R350-million in backup power as it deploys a strategy to efficiently supplement the electricity supply to its malls.

In its quest to help tenants face the challenge of loadshedding, Vukile has undertaken extensive research and is investing significantly so that 17 landmark shopping malls nationwide get solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery systems to give their shops more affordable and environment-friendly power, the company highlights.

The solution augurs well for continuous trade of all the tenants in these malls, at lower costs and carbon dioxide emissions than diesel, while providing Vukile with the opportunity to manage the long-term impact of rising electricity costs, its biggest operational cost line item, beyond the current crisis, the company says.

Vukile’s new hybrid solar-battery grid-tied systems will give shopping centres at least three sources of power – solar PV, battery backup and the national grid.

These silent systems are said to be easy to integrate into malls’ existing power networks, to need little maintenance and to be simple to expand. They are also said to be especially effective for shopping centres, as the busiest trading hours coincide with daylight hours when the sun can power solar PV panels.

Retailers have the option to augment this further with generators for days when solar generation is constrained.

The roll-out of this project has been fast-tracked and can be achieved in about half the time required to install generators. The first phase is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

“The electricity crisis poses a risk to our tenants and communities that we cannot ignore, so we have identified a solution that will save money for both Vukile and our tenants in the long run and keep them sustainably powered through and beyond loadshedding,” says MD Itumeleng Mothibeli.

Emphasising that it is in the interest of all stakeholders to have all tenants trading sustainably within a mall, Mothibeli adds: “[About] 70% of our malls trade during loadshedding. We would like to increase this number to 100% by giving our retailers the option to tap into a cheaper, more sustainable and clean form of backup power than the currently widely used diesel-powered generators.”

Vukile’s research shows that while diesel-driven generators have been a suitable solution for lower levels of loadshedding in the past – and continue to be so in certain cases – in continuous Stage 3 or higher loadshedding, the financial cost of current backup solutions makes them no longer feasible in most cases.

They carry unsustainably high fuel costs, substantial maintenance costs and contribute to carbon and noise pollution. On average, total electricity costs for tenants increased by between 25% to 30% based on having to run generators at R8/kWh to R10/kWh during loadshedding over the period January to October 2022, which Vukile notes is unsustainable.

Therefore, it says it would rather provide its tenants with the option of reliable solar power, which, combined with battery storage, costs less than grid power.

“This will also save many retailers the hefty cost of installing their own backup systems, particularly diesel generators that are unsustainable at higher loadshedding stages. When retailers’ operating costs are reduced, consumers stand to benefit too.

“The communities served by Vukile’s malls benefit by being able to meet their daily retail and leisure needs without the stress of power outages. They’ll also have much-needed access to data from the free WiFi networks available at Vukile’s shopping centres during power outages,” the company outlines.