Rustenburg’s Waterfall Mall gets Rooftop Solar Panel Plant

Growthpoint Properties today announced it has signed agreements with Solar Century Africa and Eskom to install a utility scale solar power plant on the rooftop of its Waterfall Mall in Rustenburg.

Essop Basha, Head of Utilities at Growthpoint Properties, explains the rooftop plant will generate power equivalent to the requirements of approximately 750 average sized homes, contributing towards an offset of 928 tons of carbon dioxide.

The project is in partnership Eskom’s Integrated Demand Management which subsidised 20% of the capital cost as part of its subsidy programme for Small Scale Renewables.

“Growthpoint has piloted alternative energy generation at three of our office properties, but this is our first ‘utility scale’ development and the first at a shopping mall,” says Basha. “It is some 13 times larger than the first rooftop solar plant Growthpoint tested.”

Andrew Etzinger, Senior General Manager and acting spokesperson for Eskom said he hopes to see similar projects from property owners across the country.

Growthpoint has been the recipient of several awards for its efforts in sustainable business practices; including the SAPOA (South African Property Owners Association) Innovative Excellence Awards for Green Development; the 2013 Nedbank Capital Sustainable Business Award; as well as a Gold Certificate of Recognition for its Carbon Disclosure from the National Business Initiative.

Growthpoint is also shortlisted for the Innovation Award at the 2013 African Legal Awards for its ‘Green Lease’ that has been signed by most occupants in Growthpoint’s extensive portfolio of office buildings. This shared cost of saving achieved through green initiatives between building occupant and owner, will be used so even more resource-efficient operations can be achieved.