Checkers Sitari — SA’s first supermarket to run entirely on renewable energy

Checkers located at Sitari Village Mall outside Somerset West has become South Africa’s first shopping center to run entirely off renewable energy from wind and solar sources.

Checkers located at Sitari Village Mall outside Somerset West has become South Africa’s first supermarket to run entirely off renewable energy from wind and solar sources.

A 635kWp solar installation on the store’s rooftop provides 35% of its power.

The remaining 65% - 1 752 MWh of renewable energy – is sourced from an Eskom wind plant via Eskom's Renewable Tariff (RET) programme.

"This is enough to power the entire centre, including the Checkers supermarket, entirely on renewables," said Checkers in a statement on Tuesday.

The Sitari Village Mall, owned by Shoprite and forms part of Amdec’s Sitari Country Estate.

“The commitment to renewable energy is part of Checkers’ wider climate change strategy, which acknowledges that climate change will, directly and indirectly, impact our business and the communities we are a part of. Therefore, we commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, continuously improve energy efficiency, and strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity of our operations and that of our communities,” says Shoprite Group Sustainability Manager Sanjeev Raghubir.

Last year, Shoprite doubled its solar capacity with the goal to power 25% of its operations with renewable energy.

South Africa’s crippling electricity problem

SA is battling a crippling shortage of power as a result of its reliance on an ageing and unreliable fleet of coal-fired plants that is hampering growth and fuelling record unemployment in Africa's most industrialised economy.

The state-owned utility Eskom, which supplies more than 90% of the country’s electricity, has implemented rotational load shedding for the past years.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, recently stated that his government will facilitate the generation of power by private firms, and even households, to relieve pressure on the national grid during ongoing and periodic electricity shutdowns and blackouts.

This announcement further highlights the crippling effect that poor electricity reliability is having on SA’s economic growth.