One of Cape Town’s popular eco estates has contracted AWPower to design and install an integrated energy and water management system for the estate.
Marking a pioneering initiative within security estates, AWPower’s solution involves the deployment of decentralised solar to power essential functions such as sewer and pond pumps, alongside the provision of power to common areas throughout the estate.
Typically, integrating solar PV solutions into security estates poses significant challenges, given the extensive existing AC cable infrastructure. However, the AWPower team of engineers, in collaboration with the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies from the University of Stellenbosch, has devised a ground-breaking decentralised approach.
By strategically situating smaller PV arrays across the estate to cater to specific facilities, efficient power sharing is enabled among various energy consumers. This encompasses critical elements like sewer pumps, pool pumps, administration buildings, street lights, security fences, and surveillance cameras, among others.
A key highlight about the design is that it will balance the supply of solar generated electricity between several energy users who will require power at different times during the day or night, but the load in kilowatt (kW) may also vary a lot between individual items.
Furthermore, AWPower’s solution facilitates the seamless integration of surplus power back into the grid, yielding an estimated payback period of less than 4 years at current pricing levels.
What the eco-estate can expect from this investment
Once fully installed, following a Proof of Concept phase for the first decentralised unit, the eco-estate will be able to generate its own electricity to ensure energy security, and also reduce the risk of sewer spillage into the lake as a result of loadshedding preventing the sewer tanks to be emptied in time. Together, with the facility to pump excess back into the grid, the estate will save thousands of rands in the future.
The estate’s capacity to export excess power back into the grid is poised to yield substantial cost savings in the long run.
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