AWPower engineers came out tops with this ingeniously designed solar solution for Summerville, a 20-apartment block of flats in Hout Bay, Cape Town. Gavin Berry, one of the trustees of Summerville, says AWPower is highly recommended for significantly reducing Summerville’s electricity bill.
Berry says they had a problem with electricity costs – many tenants became frustrated due to the rising prices – so they decided to look at the opportunity of solar. At first, they thought it would be too expensive. But, to their surprise, the system installed by AWPower was not only affordable, it cut their grid reliance down to just 4% in December 2024 and to 15% by April 2025 and shielded residents from loadshedding entirely.
The trustees conducted a comprehensive reference check on various suppliers and ultimately chose AWPower, which supplied a FoxESS hybrid solar solution. Summerville has been thrilled with the results.
Berry stated that the system performed far better than expected. In summer, they are using a very small percentage of grid power; by April 2025 they were using about 15% electricity from the grid, and the costs to the body corporate are way below what they were before. Berry says he and the tenants are very pleased with the results and says AWPower and FoxESS is highly recommended.
Christiaan Hattingh, MD of AWPower explains the excitement of designing a solution for this challenging project. He says, “First and foremost, the solution had to tick the box for savings. Secondly, the requirement for energy security had to be met, and thirdly, any excess power generated had to be exported to the grid.”
The tenants were delighted that AWPower could design a system that would support the entire complex without having to endure a single day of loadshedding, ever – not even stage 6. Christiaan commented that it was a great team achievement to get the installation registered at City of Cape Town and start exporting excess power within 2 months from the start of the installation.
What we designed and installed
The system designed and installed by AWPower consist of 2 x 30kW FoxESS inverters connected in parallel to provide up to 60kW of inverted electricity powering the entire complex.
The FoxESS batteries have a capacity of 120kWh, all coupled to a PV array of 60kWp. With their City of Cape Town bi-directional AMI meter installed, they are allowed to export a maximum of 26 kVA at any given moment during the day.
Mark Becker, the CEO of MPSD and distributors on FoxESS in South Africa, explains that AWPower have achieved the holy grail of solar power. Mark explains that Summerville was not a solar heaven business case. He says: “With particularly small and steep roofs, lots of hip-joints all over the place, and no spare space to install inverters and batteries, AWPower achieved the holy grail of solar. In the summer months, AWPower engineers achieved 100% solar savings with both daytime solar savings and night-time solar power, with the entire complex being carried right through the night with their stored daytime saved solar power.”
Mark extends a huge congratulations to AWPower for achieving a ‘technical marvel’ by converting the garbage storage into a solar shed, as there was no space on the premises for the inverter and batteries.
