RA ENGINEERING NEWS | December 8–14, 2017 41
T
echnology solutions provider Jasco’s
Power Solutions & Renewable Energy
team will leverage its experiences
from its successful solar project as a base for
understanding the engineering, procurement
and construction requirements for solar energy
systems in high-end residential, commercial
and small-scale utility projects.
In 2015, Jasco realised the opportunity
to become a leader in the field of renewable
energy, and honed its expertise by establishing
a solar project at its own head office complex.
Located in Midrand, Jasco Park houses over
250 of the firm’s staff, as well as a data centre
and various other amenities.
The company’s vision was to use solar
electricity to power much of the complex’s
energy needs, to cut down on the costs of
traditional power, reduce dependence on the
national grid and gain valuable insights into
clean energy deployments. An additional
upside of this project is that Jasco is able to use
its head office as a refer ence site and showcase
in order to better serve clients.
The team began the installation of a solar
carport system in April 2015. Phase 1 of the
project involved the installation of 53 kW solar
panels, accompanied by two 25 kW invertersto generate up to 50 kW ac power during peak
generation periods.
Jasco Power & Energy consulting solutions
architect Kevin Norris explains that, because
of the westerly orientation of the Phase 1
project, peak solar generation occurred in the
early afternoon, matching the peak load profile
of the Jasco campus, which occurred as a result
of commercial operations and air conditioning
loads. Phase 2 saw the additional installation
of a brand-new solar carport system in the
northern section of the Jasco campus. This
upgrade saw total photovoltaic generation
increase to 150 kW, with an increase in
invertor output power to 125 kW ac.
The solar system remains ‘tied’ to the
national grid, which enables seamless con-
sump tion between both the traditional power
source and the new solar generation. Energy
needs are primarily served by solar power and
supported by the national grid where needed.
As a result, in situations such as power
out ages, the solar system is not a backup to
traditional power, but rather a complementary
source of clean energy.
“In the event of power cuts, Jasco Park still
fails-over to generators to keep the data centre
operations running and ensure staff are stillable to work,” Norris explains.
By the end of the second phase, the team
had effectively matched campus demand with
a reliable supply of new, clean energy.
As a result of this initiative, Jasco has reduced
its maximum demand by 27% and reduced its
consumption of electricity from State-owned
utility Eskom by 33%.
Both these reductions have resulted in
significant financial savings, even at today’s
tariff structure.
“If you project these savings going forward,
with Eskom’s current request to increase
electricity costs by 20% a year, you can see
how Jasco has largely insulated itself against
future tariff price shocks.”
“Overall, we’ve reduced the carbon footprint
by 50%,” reports Jasco Renewable Energy
MD Dave Smith, adding that the payback
timeframe is pegged at five to six years, but,
if national energy tariffs and carbon taxes rise
higher than inflation, that timeframe may be
brought even further forward.
At certain times, such as weekends, Jasco
Park actually becomes a net exporter of energy.
It then sells energy back to the national grid,
creating a new, and growing, revenue stream.
“Throughout the process, we used this
project as an opportunity to create blueprints
for our renewable energy programmes within
our clients’ environments,” notes Smith.
Norris comments that this is in line with
Jasco’s vision for this project – to tangibly
demonstrate the opportunities presented by
the implementation of solar energy, while
encouraging other corporates to embrace
clean energy.A NEW 18 000 m^2 single-level
semienclosed shopping mall in
Diepsloot West, Gauteng, opened
to the public on November 23.
The R250-million Bambanani
Shopping Mall was developed
by black-owned property devel-
opment and management com-
pany Nthwese Developments.
Construction started in June
2016 and was only expected to be
completed in March 2018.
Nthwese Developments MDHerbert Theledi tells Engi neer
ing News that the project was
completed within budget and
encountered no major chal lenges.
The mall aims to serve the
Diepsloot West community with
an enhanced retail offering that
is “closer to home”.
It is espe cially developed to
meet the retail requirements of
individuals in the low- to middle-
income bracket, in line with
Living Standards Measure 1 to 4.
In this regard, anchor tenants
include food retailer Shoprite,
with a floor area of 3 000 m^2 ,hardware retailer Cashbuild,
with 1 200 m^2 , a 600 m^2
medical centre and various furni-
ture, fashion and food stores.
The development of the mall
has also enhanced road access
at a key entry and exit point of
Diepsloot, as well as improved
general access to bulk infra-
structure facilities, such as water
and electricity.As part of the rezoning agree-
ment approved by the City of
Johannesburg, Nthwese Develop-
ments was required to ensure
these bulk infrastructure facilities
were developed to meet the
require ments of a large retail
mall, as well as improve access
to infrastructure for the local
com mu n it y.EMBEDDED GENERATIONPROPERTYSolar Savings
Diepsloot mall targets
community-specific
retail requirements
Jasco slashes carbon footprint with solar energy solution
NEWS&INSIGHT
RETAIL OFFERING
An artist’s impression of the Bambanani Shopping MallDYLAN SLATER
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