Interview
Solar power solutions Gordon Brown interviews Boipelo Moloabi, Group Marketing Director for Pele Energy Group about their latest success story in providing renewable power to a farming collective that has enabled it to thrive.
GB: What was the brief or mandate from the client? BM: The brief from the client was for Pele Green Energy to provide a solar power solution for a farming co-operative in Ndumo in northern KwaZuluNatal. We were required to design, engineer, procure and construct a 4 kW solar irrigation system and a 50 kW ground mount solar solution to power a packhouse. GB: What is the business model – engineering, procurement and constructions (EPC), lease or power purchase agreement (PPA)? BM: The business model that was used as a requirement from the client was an EPC model. GB: Define the business case established in terms of the projected levelised cost of electricity (LCOE ), payback period and internal rate of return (IRR)? BM: The client had looked at the project in two parts – as community development and part business education. On the one hand the client would own the power plant and train the co-operative on its operation and maintenance over time. The model developed by the client was built to account for the learning phase where the famers could fully understand the operations of the plant. Following this phase, the farmers would then be charged an affordable tariff that fits their operating business model.
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GB: Is there scope for further phases on this site or other sites with this client? BM: Following the construction of the plants, we were tasked with operating and maintaining it for a year. This was mainly to train and develop a local person over the period who would then take over the work. This was aligned with the client’s model of transferring skills to the people in the community. The project was a pilot that will be replicated along farms in the same area and other regions on the African continent. GB: Do you see the agri sector as a key growth area for renewable energy (RE)? BM: The agricultural sector is a key growth area for RE. If we look at the above project, the farming co-operative is in one of the areas in South Africa that has not had access to electricity. There are a number of these areas around the country with this deficit, and implementing this project allowed us to see the immediate difference access to power has on the business operating model of the farmer as well as social benefits. For example, farmers can store their crops for longer periods during harvest time with refrigeration, something they were unable to do previously. In the case of implementing a solar irrigation system and replacing the manual one, the farmers’ time was freed for them to focus on other aspects of the business. As the agri sector is usually operates in remote areas, there are opportunities to implement microgrids that will enable farmers to operate their business more efficiently. It also allows them to have power security at an affordable price. www.alive2green.com/publications/green-economy-journal/
2017/11/09 12:21 PM